Monster putt sees Monty racking up the birdies

COLIN MONTGOMERIE picked up today where he left off on Sunday to be among the early pacesetters in the European Open at The London Club in Kent.

After a miserable start to the year Montgomerie finished second in the French Open at the weekend and, having closed with a 40ft putt there, he opened his defence of the title with a 25-footer.

When further birdies came on the long 15th and 225-yard 17th the 45-year-old Scot, who said going into the event he did not feel he had done enough yet to warrant a Ryder Cup wild card, was three under.

That made him part of a group which included his playing partner Ian Poulter and they were one behind Swede Peter Hedblom, who crammed two birdies and an eagle into his first six holes.

However, Montgomerie failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the difficult ninth and, while he slipped to two under, Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano took over at the top on five under by following an eagle on the long fifth with a hat-trick of birdies from the eighth.

Poulter hit the flagstick with his approach to the 426-yard tenth, their opening hole and, after tapping in, he also birdied the 15th and 16th.

With six to play he remained three under.

Open champion Padraig Harrington, playing in the group behind with Darren Clarke and Robert Karlsson, was one under after 11, but Clarke and Karlsson stood one over.

Clarke, seeking a top-five finish to get into the Open in two weeks' time, followed two birdies in his first three holes with four bogeys in the next five. England's Oliver Wilson, meanwhile, has suffered a blow to his Ryder Cup hopes, pulling out of the tournament because of tendinitis in his left shoulder.

The Mansfield golfer lies eighth on the points table and looked set to move closer to securing a debut when he played the first nine holes of the French Open last week in four under.

But it appeared there was something wrong when he struggled to complete that round in a five-over total of 76, then added an 81 on the second day to be joint 145th of the 156 players.

Runner-up three times this season, including the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May, he was due to play with Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell today, but his place was taken by Swede Joakim Backstrom.

They were among the later starters along with Justin Rose and Paul McGinley, another still to claim a place in the Open after failing at Monday's 36-hole qualifier at Sunningdale.

Ross Fisher, who did make it through there, birdied four of his first seven holes and after 13 shared second place on four under with Hedblom and South African James Kingston.