The Ryder Cup: Monty, leader of Europe

John Huggan follows the latest in a line of famous Scottish pairings

THERE HAVE been potent tartan partnerships in the Ryder Cup before, of course. Eric Brown and John Panton spring to mind from the 1950s, as does the pairing of Bernard Gallacher and Brian Barnes two decades later. Now we have another in Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie.

After an unbeaten opening day, the two Scots were back in harness yesterday - the European number one and the Open champion taking the responsibility of leading their side's challege. Montgomerie, so often the object of sly comments because of his emotional demeanour, was magnificent, especially in the afternoon victory. As more than one commentator pointed out, if he putted like that in a major, no other player would see him for dust.

Time and time again, he sunk crucial putts to save or win a hole, and none more vital than the one on the 15th in the afternoon against Woods and Pate. The 12 feet that he traversed in one putt took the lead, and it is a measure of their partnership that Lawrie was instantly inspired to birdie the next to give the Scots a dormie two advantage, which they duly did not waste.

Strangely, what makes this authoratitive partnership works was perhaps seen best in the morning foursomes match with Hal Sutton and Jeff Maggert. As former US and British Open champion Johnny Miller, now the lead commentator on America's NBC television network, said: "Montgomerie is the toughest player on the European team, and this is the pair the US have to knock off if we're going to get back into this."

With that build-up, you'd expect some fireworks, and that's what we got. After a routine half in par at the opening hole, the visitors went ahead at the second, where Monty's five-iron tee-shot subsided only three feet from the cup. One up. Four halves later and after Sutton had holed first for a birdie, Monty was faced with a tricky six-foot putt for a tying three at the 310-yard sixth. Then it started.

Even before he got over the ball, Europe's No 1 had to interrupt his pre-putt routine due to some heckling from the grandstand to the right of the green. He responded by rolling the putt in, and then punched the air in the direction of the hecklers.

Three holes later and still one up, Monty, after a lovely pitch by Lawrie, was left with another six-footer for birdie and a half. This time the boo-boys got going early, causing Monty to re-mark his ball and restart his routine from scratch. This time he missed, although in his defence the putt was a brute with at least four inches of right-to-left break. Still, even as Sutton completed the winning American birdie, Monty afforded himself a wry smile as he made his way to the 10th tee. He's learning.

Monty's assumption of a leadership role was in contrast to the opening day. Particularly in the halved afternoon fourball with Davis Love and Justin Leonard, it was the Open champion who bore more of the scoring burden. In his first Ryder Cup, Lawrie was a revelation, even if few Americans seem able to cope with pronouncing his name. He's "Lowrie" to them, sounding like the painter.

On the 11th, the Scots hacked and slashed their way to a losing bogey and a deficit for the first time. Still, they had time to regroup. Just as the Americans were getting used to leading, the siren sounded. Play resumed with the Scots as well as the weather rejuvenated. A par at the difficult 12th squared the match, and two holes later only Lawrie's miss from five feet prevented them regaining the lead.

Better was to come. At the 432-yard 15th Monty stiffed his approach for a certain birdie, which the Americans matched. Maggert holed for the half and two holes later did even better, making a 25-foot right-to-left breaker for a winning birdie. For once, the usually stoic Ameri can was animated and, suddenly, the Yanks were dormie one.

Even worse for the Scots, the newly inspired Maggert then struck a seven- iron approach to less than two feet from the cup at the final hole. Game over.