Monty cheating allocation brought up again by Sandy Lyle

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 9:41 am (Eastern)

By John Huggan

To get our British Open blog started, John Huggan adds his two cents to the controversial stories in which Sandy Lyle told two writers that Colin Montgomerie is a cheater.

Welcome to what will hopefully not go down in history as the ‘big fat cheater Open.’ I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that Sandy Lyle is not going to be appointed a vice-captain to the next European Ryder Cup side any time soon.

Or ever, in fact. Not after this. Not after the former Open and Masters champion went public on what, it must be said, most if not all of his fellow European Tour professionals have been muttering under their collective breaths since March 2005, that Colin Montgomerie is, to quote the back page of this morning’s Sun, “a cheat.” (Within hours of the story breaking, four of those same pros phoned your correspondent to express support for Lyle’s position).

Photo: © Sunday Sport Article on the Sunday Sport

More than four years have passed since Monty, competing in the Indonesian Open in Jakarta, perpetrated what appeared to be a blatant breach of the rules when he replaced his ball in what was obviously a more than advantageous position after a lightning storm had halted play one day earlier. At least it was obvious to everyone other than Monty himself and his watching caddie, Alastair McLean. Talk about a morning after pill.

First to offer a dissenting view was Soren Kjeldsen. Sitting in his hotel room watching television, the Dane saw what Monty had done and reported his displeasure to the tour. In the wake of that complaint – and being hauled in to explain his actions by the European Tour tournament committee - Monty donated his prize money to charity, although, crucially as far as his gaining automatic entry to the upcoming US Open at Pinehurst was concerned, the world ranking points he picked up were retained.

All then went quiet until Gary Evans piped up during the PGA Championship at Wentworth.

“There are been smoke around Monty before,” said the Englishman, a past winner on the European Tour. “Look what happened at Valderrama in 2002 (when Monty was given the benefit of much doubt over whether or not his ball had moved at address on the 10th green during the final round of the Volvo Masters). And, of course, only he knows what he was really thinking in Indonesia, too.

“But I have a question. Why did he, having seen the video, donate all his priz e money to charity? If he was so uncomfortable with what he saw, why didn’t he disqualify himself and give up his world ranking points? Is he saying that, for the 16 years he has been on tour he has not known that you cannot improve the line of your swing?

Photo: © Andrew Redington/Getty Images Sandy and Colin Montgomerie looked like the best of friends right after the 2006 Ryder Cup.

“I look back at what I did after losing a ball on the 17th hole of the Open at Muirfield in 2002. Under the severest pressure I was able to drop a second ball in the fairway within six inches of where I had played my previous shot. And I didn’t have a bunker right next to me as a reference point. So Monty has no excuse for getting it so wrong. He knows a lot of people are unhappy. For him not to mark the position of his ball was unprofessional. I’ve seen guys use a marker and two tee pegs to make sure they know exactly where to replace the ball when play resumes. “What we need is a disciplinary panel that can look at things like this up to maybe 48 hours after the event, then reprimand or ban players. The bottom line is that, while cheating is clearly accepted in football, the integrity of our game cannot continue to be compromised in such fashion.” Strong stuff. And now Lyle has waded into what ha s been a simmering controversy on tour ever since. Many are the players who cannot even look Monty in the face or eye, for fear of blurting out what they see as the horrible truth. “I have lost all respect for Monty,” said one – unprompted - earlier this year. “What he did back then was unforgivable.” The problem for Monty is just that; his fellow players are all able to put themselves into a Jakarta-like position then project what they would have done – or not done. Imagine, if you will, hitting a 3-wood shot from the middle of a flat, featureless fairway. Were you to lose the ball, return whence you came and have to drop another, any mistake would be immediately obvious – at least to you – once you were at address looking down. All golfers know that immutable truth, whether professional or amateur. That same point was actually made perfectly by Darren Clarke in the 2006 Irish Open. After the big Ulsterman drove into heavy rough on a long par-4, the hooter went to end play for the day. When he came back the next morning, ‘leprechauns’ had been at work and what had been a ‘hack-out’ had been transformed into one where Clarke could have hit driver had he so desired. He did not. Choosing instead to hit the shot he would have20played the evening before, Clarke pitched his ball back into play. Only the most naïve did not see the wider point he was making; not coincidentally, in the wake of Jakarta, Clarke was one of Monty’s harsher critics. The fear now, of course, is that the notoriously protective – of its own image anyway – world of golf will rally around Monty and turn on Lyle. In the absence of other pros willing to step up on the record, there is every chance that the 51-year old Scot will be first isolated then excoriated for speaking what is widely held to be the truth.

Not in Lyle’s favor either is the impression that his remarks are both a bit late and motivated more by spite than any wider feeling that the game has been let down by Monty’s actions. To most observers, that a man in his fifties who has largely removed himself from the main tour should feel a bit miffed at not getting the Ryder Cup captaincy is a bit of a stretch. In truth, Sandy should have been captain about a decade ago, perhaps at Brookline in 1999, where his generally canny character would have offered a suitable sedative for all the disgusting nonsense that went on during those fateful matches.

So the next few days will be interesting. This story can go one of two ways. Either golf’s powerful establishment – of which Monty is a fully paid-up member – will round on Lyle, or more players will take it upon themselves to go public with their strongly-held but long-concealed views on the eight-time European number one and his apparently tenuous grasp of the rules.

What Monty has to say on the matter also remains to be seen. But one is instantly reminded of the Watergate saga and former US president Richard Nixon. “I am not a crook,” said ‘Tricky Dicky’. Expect something similar from ‘Jaunty Monty.’

1 comment
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montydog --- Jul 15th, 2009 05:05 am

Thank you John for a more balanced view of the Lyle affair. I know your not one of Monty's biggest fans but the (UK) press seems hell bent on giving Lyle a good kicking over his comments. Some I suspect are afraid we may by trying to lose the Ryder Cup before we've even crossed the Severn Bridge.