It’s still incredible to think that Colin Montgomerie never won a major championship, despite being one of the best players in the world for the best part of a decade from 1997 to the mid-2000s.
Montgomerie’s résumé is packed full of trophies after his plethora of wins in very important golf tournaments.
He won 54 professional events, with 31 of those coming on the European Tour (now known as the DP World Tour).
However, it is a real travesty that the now 62-year-old was never able to get over the line in a major championship, because his exceptional consistency and sheer brilliance for 10 years or so was more than deserving of at least one.
Despite the fact that he never won a major title, Montgomerie will leave behind an ever-lasting Ryder Cup legacy.
The Scot played on five winning Ryder Cup teams, eight in total, and he captained the European side to success in 2010 at Celtic Manor.
He will undoubtedly go down as one of the most successful Ryder Cup players of all time, having earned 23.5 points in the competition during his career.
That said, he will surely have that nagging ‘what might have been’ question in the back of his head when he eventually stops playing senior golf entirely and gives up the game.
How Colin Montgomerie’s 1997 US Open heartbreak unfolded
The 1997 US Open was held at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.
Montgomerie was ranked as a top-five golfer in the world at the time, and was one of the strong favourites heading into the tournament.
He had achieved two top-three finishes at the tournament since 1992, and his incredible accuracy off the tee meant that his game was built for the challenges presented at US Open golf courses.
The Scot’s first three rounds of 65, 76, and 67 saw him trail the leader, Tom Lehman, by three strokes heading into the final round.
Montgomerie actually held the joint lead during the final round of the US Open alongside Tom Lehman and Jeff Maggert, after playing his ninth hole of the day.
He then parred every single hole right up to the 16th, before stepping onto the tee of the incredibly difficult 17th hole at Congressional.
Montgomerie ended up bogeying the hole before parring the last to finish at four-under par for the tournament. At the time, he still very much had a chance of winning.
However, Ernie Els came through in the group behind the European Ryder Cup legend and managed to win the title after making pars on his final two holes of the day.
The South African hoisted his second US Open trophy after his victory at Oakmont in 1994, while Montgomerie was left to rue his short missed putt on the 17th hole.
At the time, he would have thought he had plenty more chances to win one of the biggest four events in the game lying ahead of him.
However, it wasn’t to be for him, unfortunately.
Colin Montgomerie’s major championship record
He came so close to winning one of the most prestigious four trophies in the game on numerous occasions.
Here is Montgomerie’s major record by numbers and the amount of close calls he had was truly incredible really:
| Achievements | Montgomerie’s totals |
| Majors played | 76 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Runner-ups | 5 |
| Top-5s | 6 |
| Top-10s | 10 |
| Top-25s | 21 |
| Cuts made | 46 |
Whilst Montgomerie’s defeat to Els at the 1997 US Open was the most painful, the two losses that would have been hardest to take were in 1992 and 2006.
At the US Open at Pebble Beach in 1992, Jack Nicklaus famously prematurely congratulated the Scot after he finished his round on the 18th hole, before Tom Kite finished his round and secured the title.
Nicklaus told Montgomerie, “congratulations on your first US Open victory,“ due to how difficult the course was playing.
However, Kite shot a superb back nine of level-par 36 in howling winds and rain to pip ‘Monty’ to the title.
Then, 14 years later at Winged Foot, Montgomerie suffered more heartache but this time, he only had himself to blame.
He ended up finishing one shot adrift of eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy, but he really should have won the tournament.
Montgomerie inexplicably double bogeyed his final hole of the fourth round after finding the perfect position off the tee.
He missed the green short right and then overhit his pitch shot past the pin. From there, he three-putted to finish off his 2006 US Open in miserable fashion.
It’s worth noting that he also suffered a crushing sudden-death playoff defeat to Steve Elkington in the 1995 PGA Championship at Riviera.
However, make no mistake about it, the US Open at Congressional in 1997 was one of the best opportunities Montgomerie ever had to win a major championship.