European Ryder Cup heroes Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood will make their first appearances on The 2005 European Tour International Schedule at this week’s Caltex Masters, presented by Carlsberg, Singapore 2005.
The Scotsman and the Englishman, who together amassed an impressive points haul of eight out of a possible ten during Europe’s record breaking victory over the USA at Oakland Hills Country Club last September, will be the star attractions at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club in the joint-sanctioned tournament with the Asian Tour.
Montgomerie, who holed the winning putt at The 35th Ryder Cup Matches, is the defending champion and will be able to draw inspiration from his spectacular final round of seven under par 65 that ensured his three shot victory from Gregory Hanrahan of the USA last season.
Westwood, meanwhile, can look to his superb performance at The 2004 Ryder Cup – where he became only the sixth European player in history to take four and a half points out of five – as he looks to begin the new season on a high.
That is not to mention Westwood’s eight top ten finishes on Tour last season that included a memorable fourth place at the 133rd Open Golf Championship at Royal Troon that helped him to seventh place on the 2004 Order of Merit with total earnings of €1,592,765.
Between them, Montgomerie and Westwood have won 44 European Tour titles (28 for the Scot and 16 for the Englishman) and they will head a high quality field at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club.
Montgomerie, a seven time European Tour Order of Merit winner, is the most decorated player in the field in terms of Tour titles, and, alongside Westwood, will be favourite to take lion’s share of the US$1,000,000 prize fund.
England’s David Howell – another European Ryder Cup hero from last season – is included in that list, as well as former Ryder Cup players Thomas Björn, Andrew Coltart, Niclas Fasth, Ignacio Garrido, Joakim Haeggman, Barry Lane (who finished fifth in this event last season), Paul Lawrie and Costantino Rocca.
It all adds up to an outstanding line-up for the Caltex Masters, presented by Carlsberg, Singapore 2005, as the race for The 2005 European Tour Order of Merit gets into full swing.
