Golf: Monty is the man to catch
Colin Montgomerie was the man to catch as The Open moved into its second day at Royal Lytham.
Two months ago Montgomerie's statement that his best years were yet to come raised more than a few eyebrows.
After all, the Scot had been knocked off his perch as European number one after seven years by Lee Westwood.
And his failure to win a fourth straight PGA Championship meant he had gone a full year without a European Tour victory.
But the 38-year-old had the last laugh as he set out out to defend his three-shot lead - only four players having held a bigger lead at the same stage.
It was back at Wentworth in May that Montgomerie insisted he was not a spent force, despite a loss of form - and weight - not helped by marital problems that brought about a trial separation from wife Eimear.
"I feel that I'm entering a new chapter in my career," he said at the time. "I think my best golfing days are still ahead, I'm not just saying that - I really do believe it.
"Obviously I have to improve on all aspects - fitness, technique and mental skills - but I am as keen as ever and in the six years that I possibly have left of competing at this level I do feel I have my best golf yet to play."
Montgomerie certainly backed up that claim with an opening 65 that was easily his best first round ever in the Open - 71 last year at St Andrews being his previous lowest - and which gave him the perfect chance to vastly improve his dismal Open record of just one top-10 finish and five missed cuts in the last nine.
"All this is is a good start," Montgomerie said. "I've never dreamt about any Thursday at an Open. But I've had a couple of dreams about Sundays."
Montgomerie made a blistering start with birdies at the first two holes and recovered superbly from a bogey at the fifth by chipping in for an eagle on the sixth.
Four more birdies followed, including one from 40 feet on the last after he had single putted the previous three greens to save par, to forge a three-shot lead over American pair Brad Faxon and Chris Di Marco and Finland's Mikko Ilonen, the former British amateur champion.
No fewer than 16 players were another shot back on two under par including England's Justin Rose - reviving memories of his fourth place finish as a 17-year-old amateur at Birkdale three years ago - David Duval, Jose Maria Olazabal and Jesper Parnevik.
Defending champion Tiger Woods was simply grateful for a level par 71, however, that could have been considerably worse as he failed to fire on all cylinders despite a birdie on the first.
