Scotland’’s Colin Montgomerie, the man who holed the winning putt in The 35th Ryder Cup Matches, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’’s Honours List at the end of a turbulent year in his remarkable career.
The 41 year old seven-time winner of The European Tour Order of Merit, admitted he was ``hugely honoured'' to have been awarded an OBE, having been originally awarded the MBE in 1998 after winning the Order of Merit for the sixth of those seven successive times.
In 2004 his Official World Golf Rank slipped from 41st to 81st but he won his 28th European Tour title by capturing the Caltex Masters, presented by Carlsberg, Singapore 2004, and memorably sank the winning putt in Europe's record-breaking 18 ½ - 9 ½ Ryder Cup victory over the United States in Michigan in September.
He won three out of four games at Oakland Hills Country Club, extending his recent record in the event to a brilliant 14 wins, three halves and only three defeats. In a total of seven Ryder Cup appearances, he has been on the winning side four times and made massive contributions on each occasion. Montgomerie, who had a very painful divorce to cope with during the season, has not lost any singles game since making his Ryder Cup debut in 1991.
I'm obviously hugely honoured,'' he said.What I remember most about this year's Ryder Cup is how much I enjoyed being part of a great Team.
``This honour is wonderful for me personally and I'm very pleased to get it. I feel I have a lot more to give and it fills me with confidence going into 2005.''
Two weeks ago Montgomerie was the recipient of the Professional Golfers' Association's recognition award for services to golf.
