Scottish pair find points up for grabs

The Scot Colin Montgomerie believes it could work out well for his countrymen, Andrew Coltart and Andrew Oldcorn, that they are not competing with him at the NEC World Championship starting here today.

Only the top 12-placed players in Europe's Ryder Cup table are chasing the $1m first prize at the Firestone Country Club and Coltart and Oldcorn, who lie 13th and 14th, did not qualify for the event.

So while Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and company compete in a 39-strong field that contains 24 of the world's top 27-ranked players – the absentees controversially being Sergio Garcia, Jesper Parnevik and Tom Lehman – his two compatriots have diverted to the Scottish PGA Championship.

Both events count towards the Cup standings and Montgomerie commented: "It could be a blessing in disguise that they failed to qualify here." His reasoning is that it should be easier to win at Gleneagles than it is to finish fourth in Akron – and the Ryder Cup points on offer are the same for both tournaments.

After this week only the BMW International Open in Munich remains before the European side is finalised, with 10 of the team coming off the points list and captain Sam Torrance adding two wild cards, which, as things stand, are almost certain to be Garcia and Parnevik.

Montgomerie bears no hard feelings towards Oldcorn, who made the mistake on the scorecard on Sunday that resulted in the world No 10's disqualification from the United States PGA championship.

"It's my fault for not checking it closely enough. But believe me, if I had been in contention I would have." He was going to finish only 70th and it cost him less than £6,000. "It's still not a nice thing to happen, though. I've never been disqualified before for anything – not even in my amateur days."

Montgomerie, not a keen flyer, chose to drive from Atlanta to Akron with his caddie Alastair McLean. It took 10 hours, but they did it in two legs with an overnight stop. The winner of the Irish Open and the Scandinavian Masters this summer, the Scot, happily for Torrance, is not seeking a wild card too.

Tiger Woods was struck down by stomach trouble yesterday on the eve of his bid for a third successive victory at this event. The world No 1, who on Sunday finished only 29th in trying for a hat-trick of USPGA wins, was described as "under the weather" by officials after he cancelled a scheduled press conference. Last year he won by an 11-stroke margin and set a course record of 61.