Montgomerie restores distance control

Colin Montgomerie roared again both on and off the course yesterday. A 67 took the former European No 1 into a share of the lead after two rounds of the Benson & Hedges International and then revealed that the "former" bit irks him somewhat.

"Winning on the Ryder Cup course would be a bonus but I want to do as well as possible to prove to myself and my team-mates that I can still perform," Montgomerie said. "I want to be the best player in Europe again and I'm not right now." Montgomerie takes as dim a view of failure as fellow Scot Sir Alex Ferguson. "I don't know how my peers see it but having been No 1 for seven years and then finishing sixth and fifth has to be seen as failure," Montgomerie said.

"I had not been out of the top-four since 1990 so in my eyes it was a failure." He had a 67 in the first round of last week's French Open but did not back it up. Having fiddled with the specifications of his irons and ball, Montgomerie thinks he has finally got back to a combination that restores the distance control he used to take for granted.

"This is how I used to score a 67 – no bogeys and five holed putts. It was a very easy form of golf because I was hitting the fairways and the greens and that's what happened today. It's nice to know it is still possible and I'll go out tomorrow with the same attitude. I was easier on myself. For too long I gave myself too hard a time for missing the 13 and not being happy with the five I'd holed."

One thing that has perked up Monty no end is that he has received over a hundred applications to caddie for him. The 25 pushed under the door of his hotel room are probably from genuine tour caddies. The others received at the offices of his management group include more dubious claims.

"There are people who haven't caddied before," Monty said. "Business people have written in wanting a change of career, to see the world." Alastair McLean, who worked for the Scot for 10 years, probably made £100,000 a year, less expenses. "It's a nice position to have people coming to you. I have someone in mind but I don't want to rush into a decision."

Montgomerie, at six under, tied with overnight leader Greg Owen and South Africa's Roger Wessels. Ian Woosnam, John Daly and Peter Baker were among those a shot behind. Of the 10 members of the Ryder Cup team present, five have the weekend off.

Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood both failed to make the cut, along with Paul McGinley, after an 81, Pierre Fulke and Niclas Fasth, who needed a par at the last to qualify and took an eight. Padraig Harrington, Phil Price, Bernhard Langer and Thomas Bjorn joined Montgomerie in safely making the cut, along with captain Sam Torrance and vice-captain Woosnam.

Baker, who won this title in 1988 as a 20-year-old beating Nick Faldo in a play-off, inspired memories of his brilliant Ryder Cup performance at The Belfry in 1993 by holing putts from 60 and 35 feet in his 68. "I watched a video of that Ryder Cup a couple of weeks ago to try and get myself up after playing so badly," Baker said.

Baker has not won in the nine years since and only once finished better than 24th on the order of merit. "I don't know why my career did not go on from there," he said. "I've thought about it a lot. I tend to fall back into bad habits very quickly.

"I fell down the slippery slope but now I want to get back to competing and having a chance of winning tournaments. It's been a long time and I've missed it. I miss all that excitement, the enjoyment, the disappointment. It is better being disappointed at the top than at the bottom."

His lowest point, however, concerns a totally different sport. "Wolves losing to Norwich," Baker sighed. "That was pretty low, or the Sheffield Wednesday away game. I was giving out so much stick for the first three-quarters of the season but the last couple of months I've had to keep my head down. You know what they say with Wolves – 'next year!'"

GB or Irl unless stated

138 C Montgomerie 71 67; R Wessels (SA) 69 69; G Owen 66 72. 139 P Baker 71 68; I Woosnam 67 72; J Daly (US) 70 69; A Wall 68 71; M Campbell (NZ) 70 69. 140 P O'Malley (Aus) 70 70; J Bickerton 72 68; D Drysdale 71 69; P Fowler (Aus) 71 69. 141 P Harrington 71 70; R Jacquelin (Fr) 71 70; P Price 71 70; A Cabrera (Arg) 68 73; S Webster 73 68; B Lane 69 72; T Bjorn (Den) 71 70; D Lee 70 71. 142 M Mackenzie 72 70; S Luna (Sp) 72 70; R Muntz (Neth) 71 71; Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72 70; R Green (Aus) 73 69. 143 P Lawrie 73 70; E Romero (Arg) 71 72; S Lyle 69 74; D Smyth 73 70; R Johnson (Swe) 73 70; S Scahill (NZ) 72 71; A Forsyth 71 72; D Lynn 73 70; T Immelman (SA) 72 71; P Senior (Aus) 71 72; M Foster 71 72. 144 N Faldo 72 72; S Little 71 73; S Torrance 72 72; C Wi (S Kor) 70 74; C Pettersson (Swe) 73 71; B Dredge 74 70; J M Singh (Ind) 70 74; P Eales 72 72; R Bland 75 69; T Gillis (US) 72 72; M Roe 73 71; R Russell 73 71. 145 N O'Hern (Aus) 77 68; R Goosen (SA) 73 72; M Pilkington 75 70; I Poulter 70 75; C Rodiles (Sp) 73 72; G Evans 71 74; S Kjeldsen (Den) 75 70; L Parsons (Aus) 72 73; A Scott (Aus) 74 71; R Claydon 71 74; G Orr 74 71; J-F Remesy (Fr) 72 73; M Vide-Hastrup (Den) 72 73. 146 D Gilford 73 73; E Darcy 75 71; M Hoey 73 73; O Karlsson (Swe) 78 68; J M Lara (Sp) 73 73; A Marshall 74 72; I Garbutt 70 76; J M Olazabal (Sp) 74 72; B Teilleria (Fr) 75 71; D Carter 68 78; H Stenson (Swe) 73 73; E Canonica (It) 75 71; J Sandelin (Swe) 69 77; B Davis 73 73.