AFTER a honeymoon in Venice with new wife Gaynor, Colin Montgomerie returns to work at the Spanish Open in Seville today searching for signs of form and encouragement in his twin quests to make progress in the world rankings and contend for a place in Europe's Ryder Cup team.
While it would be inaccurate to suggest Monty had not held a club in his hands since the CA championship at Doral in March – he spent the morning of his wedding firing 9 iron shots at Loch Lomond's eighth green in the company of his guests – the Scot
's five week absence from competition means he finds himself with plenty of ground to make up this spring.
Currently 33rd on the European points list for the Ryder Cup match against the USA in Kentucky, 48th in the Order of Merit and 74th in the world rankings, Montgomerie knows he will need to embrace the work ethic with enthusiasm over the coming months: that's why he plans to tee up in eight of the next nine weeks.
Of course, making up the numbers has never been a priority for the Scot and he feels he needs to win twice during this intense stretch of involvement if he wants to get his career back on track in 2008.
"I've never had that long off in mid-season ever before," he confided in Seville yesterday. "But I'm ready (to play again] and feel I can put in a good performance. I'm not saying I will win here, but I'm playing eight of the next nine weeks and I've got to win twice.
"If I can do that then I think it will prove to him (Nick Faldo, Europe's Ryder Cup captain) and everyone else I am still capable of competing. I found out with the Masters that if you're not playing you can't win. But it's up to me now."
After missing the first major of the season, the Scot is consoled by the knowledge he's already booked places in the US Open at Torrey Pines, the Open at Birkdale and the US PGA at Oakland Hills thanks to last season's 12th place finish in the Order of Merit.
Apart from finishing sixth in the Gulf and ninth at the match play in Arizona, thanks to tidy wins over Jim Furyk and Charles Howell III, it's been a quiet start to 2008 for Scotland's most successful golfer. Like his young compatriot, Marc Warren, Montgomerie has suffered from inconsistency since the pair won the World Cup in China last year.
By his own admission, it's the quality of dependability which has deserted him of late. He still has good weeks, of course, but more bad ones than before. After missing cuts at the Johnnie Walker in India and Arnold Palmer's tournament at Bay Hill, posting a top ten finish at Seville golf club this week-end would be a positive start in the pursuit of consistency.
"It's what I lack right now," he acknowledged in conversation earlier this year. "I used to be able to picture a shot in my mind and then execute it more or less just as I'd seen it. Today I can still see the same shots – only now they don't always go where I'd imagined."
Not that Montgomerie is the only high profile golfer teeing up at the Spanish Open this week with a point to prove about what the future holds. If the Scots only seeks contentment on the course to match his happiness off it, John Daly returns to Europe cutting a slightly disconsolate image in all aspects of his life.
Always addicted to one thing or another, the American seems unable to shake off a dependence on erratic behaviour to generate headlines. Butch Harmon, the genial American coach, even stopped working with Daly recently because he felt "the most important thing in his life is getting drunk".
Now reliant on invitations to further his career after losing his Tour card, the American has hardly made the most of the good will of sponsors. Down to 595th in the world rankings, Daly, who recently underwent a stomach operation, has only made a brace of cuts this year. In the company of two fine Ryder Cup players, Darren Clarke and Miguel Angel Jimenez, it would be encouraging to think he could find a glimmer of direction in Spain.
The full article contains 734 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
