Ryder Cup legend Colin Montgomerie was in fine form when he spoke to the media ahead of the 30th edition of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic – an event the eight-time Order of Merit Champion won back in 1996.
Asked what he thought of the raft of new rule changes that have been introduced into the game this year, the Scotsman answered in the most ‘Monty’ way imaginable.
“I agree with most of them such as three minutes instead of five minutes looking for the ball because five always was seven…so now three will be five at least!
“And it’s all to speed up play, really. But it would have been a lot easier to say – well, if we want to speed up play, we’ll just punish the slow players. That would be easier, wouldn’t it, really? Because I keep playing with people that are too slow and don’t get punished.”
“We need to have more of a deterrent, a stronger deterrent to punish the slower players and that would have been easier than changing The Rules of Golf to speed up play. Just punish the slow ones and get on with it!” – Colin Montgomerie
Montgomerie, who will make his 26th appearance in the Middle East’s oldest event, also revealed that regular caddie Alistair McLean has stayed back home in the US, so his son Cameron is on the bag this week. The change meant he was forced to by a Majlis course planner in order to dial his yardages in but he was surprised to find that the digital age has made the process slightly different to how it was when he joined the Tour in the late 1980s.
“I left Alistair in Charlotte where he belongs, and we came in from Hawaii. I won’t make a big issue of it the way Poulter did, but I got here,” he joked.
“Without Alistair, I needed to buy a (course) book. I wanted to pay cash for the book so I asked how much it is. But you can’t do that, no, it’s all online.
“So I had to get an app and all sorts of stuff and then I had to get the book. Alistair has the book. I don’t have the book – can’t read it. It’s a bit embarrassing if I have to put my glasses on and take them off to see the thing. How are you supposed to read that?
“That was a disaster. That was £30 wasted! So, thank God, Cameron, my son is on the bag and he’s got better eyesight than I have. I’ll have to trust him, because I know my way around here. If I don’t know my way around here by now, there’s something wrong with me.”
