Colin Montgomerie was four strokes clear and in light rough off the tee at the long 17th when the hooter sounded for a cessation of play here on the West Course yesterday. The elements had clearly decided that this year's Volvo PGA Championship would be ill-fated from start to finish. Not even an imminent, record-breaking performance could move them.
As happened, the last weather delay was the shortest. After 19 minutes, play resumed, the great Scot made par on the 17th and then the last, to capture the championship for an unprecedented third successive year, three strokes clear of Darren Clarke, Andrew Coltart and Lee Westwood. Sergio Garcia and Australian left-hander Richard Green were in a share of fifth place three shots further back.
It was a wonderful performance by Montgomerie who dominated the event throughout. Indeed typical of his supremacy was his response when fellow Scot Coltart drew level at the seventh with a birdie to Monty's bogey. With birdies at four of the next six holes, he swept his would-be challengers aside.
Clarke knew that the title was effectively beyond him when, after finishing the five holes held over from the third round yesterday morning, he was six strokes adrift. "It meant I would need to have shot something like a 61, which was asking a lot," he said.
In the event the Tyroneman, who was also tied second in this event in 1997 - behind Ian Woosnam - shot a sparkling 66 against 69 from Montgomerie. "I needed to birdie the 17th and 18th in the morning," he said, `but it didn't happen. I played well this afternoon, but not well enough."
And what of the battle for the Order of Merit in which he is still £229,775 clear of the Scot at the top of the table? "With Monty playing like this, it could be very difficult for me to stay there," he replied. "It's only when you try to beat him in a situation like this that you realise just how good a player he is."
With this victory, Montgomerie has become the first player to gain a hat-trick of victories on the European Tour since Nick Faldo captured the Irish Open from 1991 to 1993. And a measure of his liking for the West Course is that he has now taken £889,621 from the PGA Championship alone, quite apart from the £238,000 which he captured in last October's World Matchplay triumph here.
The West Course could reasonably be titled Monty's Manor. "With so many good guys behind me, I knew I had to keep hitting fairways and greens," said the player who almost invariably outshines his rivals in that particular task. "This is the flagship tournament of the European Tour and it is a great honour to win it three years in-a-row."
Clarke did as well as might be expected, given that his game has not yet regained the sharpness which brought him the Andersen Consulting World Matchplay title at La Costa. Interestingly, he actually putted better than the winner, averaging 28 putts over the four rounds compared with 29.3 from Montgomerie.
Indeed Montgomerie carded six bogeys, compared with five from Clarke. So, the big difference between them was the Scots greater accuracy from tee to green, which became a priceless asset on a sodden, tree-lined course playing even more difficult than usual.
"I wasted eight shots out there around the greens, over the four rounds," Clarke conceded. Still, he faced yesterday's challenge with admirable resolve, jumping right into contention by going birdie, eagle at the third and fourth. The first was the product of a five iron to 15 feet and the eagle came when he reduced the 497 yards par five to a drive, five iron and a 10-foot putt.
Playing in the third-last three-ball behind Montgomerie, the hope was that Clarke would post a sufficiently strong score to test the champion. As it happened, he further improved his position with birdies at the 12th, 15th and 18th, but at the end of the day, his effort was good enough only for a share of second place, albeit for a reward of £111,853.
"Monty has played fantastic," he added. "He knew what he had to do and he went out and did it. He's a quality player. We're all aware that when he gets in the lead, he tends to win. Not all the time but more often than not."
For his part, Montgomerie received a timely wake-up call when missing from four feet for a bogey on the seventh. And he really asserted himself with the run of three birdies from the 11th. "Going to the 13th tee, I knew the title was mine," he said.
It was his second title of the season, coming after the French Open in Paris, at the start of this month. And it brought his career earnings to £9,942,046, by way of proving that despite its detractors from the other side of the Atlantic, there is, in fact, money in European golf.
