Colin Montgomerie 'honoured' by Rory McIlroy's Race to Dubai praise for Scot

“I think it's amazing to have that sustained excellence for that long,” observed McIlroy, speaking in Dubai just over a fortnight ago before claiming what is now called the DP World Tour Race to Dubai title for the fourth year in a row and seventh time in total, having moved ahead of Seve Ballesteros and now having Montgomerie in his sights.

“There's a lot of people that can have a good year or a two-year run,” added the world No 2 and golf’s newest career grand slam winner. “But to sustain that for seven years straight, it probably doesn't get talked about enough, especially in that golden age of European golf where he's going up against [Nick] Faldo and [Sandy] Lyle and [Bernhard] Langer and Woosie [Ian Woosnam]. Not saying that this isn't a pretty good generation, too, but he had to fend off some really tough competition.”

This correspondent picked up on Montgomerie sharing a social media post containing those comments and, during a chat ahead of next week’s Skechers World Champions Cup supporting Shriners Children’s, the Scot admitted it had been nice to hear what McIlroy had said about him during the DP World Tour Championship.

“It was as he didn’t have to and I appreciate what he said,” Montgomerie told Scotland on Sunday. “I’ve had a lot of coverage over that and, in a way, he is probably right. A lot of the guys now, his competition, are playing in America now whereas we didn’t. You know, Faldo, Seve, Langer, Lyle, Woosnam, myself and [Jose Maria] Olazabal. Even [Sam] Torrance, [Ronan] Rafferty, [Gordon] Brand jnr and others that I was competing against in the early days weren’t members of the PGA Tour. They were members of the European Tour.

“I remember winning the Scandinavian Masters in 1991 to get in the Ryder Cup and wholeheartedly remembering who was second, third and fourth and it was Seve, Faldo and Woosie. That doesn’t happen now in Europe where you get first, second and third in the world, as they possibly were and certainly in the top five. It was a very astute thing for Rory to say and I was very honoured because it was my honour to captain him as a rookie in the Ryder Cup in 2010 (at Celtic Manor in Wales) and from then on I have followed his career very closely.”

Montgomerie, who has pledged to present the Harry Vardon Trophy to McIlroy if the Northern Irishman breaks his record and fully expects him to do so, was asked on the same call where he believes McIlroy now stands in terms of the greatest golfers to come out of Europe after joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods on the list of career grand slam winners following his Masters victory in April.

“Oh goodness, my word,” he said. “If you are talking about the best players, you’ve got to think about major championships, don’t you? And it’s always a difficult task to rank Tiger against Jack. In my view, Tiger was and is the best player that has ever played the game. Now, he hasn’t won as many majors as Jack but the competition was very different when Tiger was playing and all the world events he played in and all the records Tiger holds. With all respect to Jack Nicklaus, I’d say that Tiger was the best player who has ever lived.

‘Rory McIlroy is now best-ever European’

“The same goes for the European deal, where Faldo has six majors and Rory and Seve has five. Now. Does that mean Faldo is better than Rory? No. Does that mean Rory is better than Faldo? It is a very difficult thing to equate because it is a different generation. I would say now that Rory has won all four surfaces that you would have to put Rory ahead of faldo and say that Rory is the best European player to play.

“Though Rory is getting there, Seve, I think, is still No 1 within the European team room in a Ryder Cup. But, and I am putting my head on the block here, I would say that Rory is the best European player ever now that he has achieved what no European player has achieved in the past which, of course, is winning the grand slam. So you would have to say that, really.”

Montgomerie had also been asked as part of that question where he would rank himself on the list of Europe’s greats. “Oh, a close fourth behind Seve - I’ll take fourth place, that’s fine,” he replied to that, laughing, when pressed about it again.

Kiwi based in Scotkand is ‘very, very good golfer’

In the second edition of the World Champions Cup, Skechers ambassador Montgomerie is teaming up with Darren Clarke, Bernhard Langer, Thomas Bjorn, Alex Cejka and Miguel Angel Jimenez for Team Europe. In an event being held at Feather Sound Country Club in Florida, they’ll be up against Team US and Team International, with Steven Alker, a Kiwi who now lives in Scotland, representing the latter.

“He’s moved from Phoenix, I believe, so he will realise the weather is a bit different,” joked Montgomerie. “I’ll tell you what, a lovely bloke and, I don’t say this too often, a bloody good golfer, too. A very, very good golfer. I’ve played with him a number of times and I have always been impressed with not just his golfing ability but his attitude and mental strength as well. He’s been a great asset to the PGA Champions Tour.”