It's been 30 years since Colin Montgomerie's PGA Championship heartbreak at Riviera
Whenever there’s a mention of Colin Montgomerie and major championships, it tends to provoke the kind of grimacing shudder you’d get from a toddler reluctantly slurping a teaspoon of cod liver oil.
Near misses, close shaves and ones that got away? Heartbreak was such a common theme of Monty’s futile mission for a major moment, he just about had a loyalty card for that well-kept hotel down at the end of Lonely Street. “We’ve got your usual en-suite, Mr. Montgomerie.”
As the closing round of the weather-delayed PGA Championship was set to unravel Sunday at Quail Hollow, those across the pond will be watching on and listening to the sing-song delivery of Sky television’s lead commentator, Ewen Murray, putting another major championship to bed.
Colin Montgomerie forced playoff with Elkington
Thirty years ago in 1995, Murray was working himself and everyone else into a giddy fankle as Montgomerie put all and sundry through the wringer during a nail-nibbling, nerve-shredding and ultimately agonising finale to the PGA Championship at storied Riviera in Los Angeles.
“Oh, he’s got it,” roared Murray as Monty trundled in a raking birdie putt from 20 feet on the final hole to force a play-off with Australia’s Steve Elkington. “Oh yes. Oh yes. What a finish from Colin Montgomerie.”
It certainly was. With a valiant, do-or-die charge that could’ve earned him a medal, Montgomerie, who was five off the 54-hole pace set by Ernie Els, birdied the 16th, 17th and 18th in a thrilling 65, which left the Scot tied at the top with Elkington on 17-under.
Elkington was no final-round slouch either. He blasted a 64 to barge his way to the front. “The round of my life,” he gasped.
Back to the 18th they would go for the sudden-death shoot-out. “It’s a terrible feeling when someone makes a long putt to tie you and put it into a playoff,” Elkington added. “But you re-group and you try to birdie the first hole.”
And he did, the rascal. Elkington, with a similar putt to the one Montgomerie had holed in regulation, knocked it in from about 20 feet.
Monty, from just inside his rival, narrowly missed on the right and the vast Wanamaker Trophy ended up in the clutches of the Aussie.
Loss was one of many for Motgomerie in majors
A couple of years after losing out to the aforementioned Els in a three-man play-off for the U.S. Open at Oakmont, Montgomerie was left nursing another wound.
“So near and yet so far for Colin Montgomerie,” said Murray with a lament that could’ve been accompanied by the sombre skirl of a lone piper.
“It’s so sad there has to be a loser. He’s taken it on the chin a few times in the last couple of years. But he’ll come back for more.”
You couldn’t keep Monty down. At the 1997 U.S. Open at Congressional, he was right in the merry midst of it again, but a bogey on the 71st hole dropped him from a tie for the lead, and he lost by a single shot to Els.
In the 2006 U.S. Open, meanwhile, a chaotic conclusion saw Monty rack up a shattering double-bogey from a perfect spot in the 18th fairway at Winged Foot and he eventually finished joint second, just a stroke behind Geoff Ogilvy.
A faded 7-iron into the last was a trademark shot that Monty had built a garlanded career on.
It failed him when it mattered the most, though, as he caught it heavy and watched his ball plunge into the unforgiving greenside rough.
“I messed up,” he grumbled in the gloomy aftermath.
Elkington won the Wanamaker in 1995, Monty didn’t lose it
Monty’s 1995 PGA Championship disappointment, of course, was a very different loss. “He (Elkington) won the tournament, I did not lose the tournament,” he said at the time through gritted teeth.
“All I can say about myself is that I did nothing wrong. I was standing on the 18th fairway when he finished, and I knew I needed a birdie. I take it as a positive that I achieved that.”
Montgomerie’s defeat to Elkington was the Ryder Cup talisman’s fifth successive play-off loss in all competitions.
“It went through my mind, my play-off record, and I felt the law of averages had to take effect sometime,” he said. “I felt that it was my turn. But it wasn’t to be.
“What did I think when he sank his putt for a birdie (in the play-off? Well, I’ve played enough golf to expect the unexpected. I was hoping he doesn’t do that sort of thing. But he did. And all credit to him.”
The PGA Championship would be Elkington’s one and only major triumph. “The first one is always the hardest one, they say,” Elkington said.
Poor old Monty would’ve agreed with that.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Colin Montgomerie on loss to Steve Elkington at 1995 PGA Championship
