Montgomerie: a very average score
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Colin Montgomerie watched his hopes of an Open Championship challenge drift away on the swirling Birkdale wind.
The 44-year-old Scot struggled to a four-over-par 74 that left him on 12 over and well adrift of the contenders.
He had five bogeys and just a solitary birdie at 16.
"I was three over after seven and you can't see a way of getting back," said Montgomerie, runner-up to Tiger Woods in 2005.
"I had one birdie out of the heavy rough at 16 but four over is very average, very average indeed."
To be fair to the eight-time Order of Merit champion, he refused to blame the difficult conditions for his travails.
"The course was perfectly playable," Montgomerie added. "It was just a very average score."
With yet another major chance about to slip by, Montgomerie was asked whether he would ever tire of playing in the championship: "No. Even not playing well," he said.
Big Easy
Ernie Els also failed to launch a charge on Saturday morning, carding the same score as Monty after dropping four shots in his first seven holes.
"A lot of missed opportunities, a lot of missed putts," said the former champion, who is 13-over-par. "I've had a very frustrating week on the greens.
"I'm going to see Butch Harmon in Las Vegas for two days and get my short game sharp. I'll be going back to basics."
