Montgomerie Makes Million

He got $1 million for eight hours work, but it was no gimme for Colin Montgomerie.

Montgomerie blew a huge lead on the back nine before recovering to beat Davis Love III, 2-up, in Sunday’s 36-hole match-play final of the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf.

“Golf is a game that it really isn’t over until it’s over and that’s the beauty of it,” Montgomerie said. “Even at 4-up, I knew it wasn’t over and I started thinking too much and Davis came back strong.”

Love, who never led after the 13th hole and was 4-down with four holes to play, halved his deficit with a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 33 and a 25-footer on No. 34.

Montgomerie, the European champion, then three-putted for bogey on No. 35 for a 1-up lead heading into the final hole--the par-five 18th where Love hit the flag stick in Saturday’s semifinals to beat Japan’s Hajime Meshiai.

This time, Davis pulled his second shot left and was 60 feet from the pin. Montgomerie lofted his three-iron shot within 10 feet.

“I’ve made better shots and closer ones, but in the realm of pressure, that ranks up there as one of my best,” Montgomerie said. “I’d have been delighted with that shot in a practice round.”

Davis’ putt curved left and went past the cup by 10 feet and he conceded the match to Montgomerie, who joins England’s Barry Lane (1996) and Australia’s Greg Norman (1997) as Andersen Consulting champions.

“At least I made him work for it,” Love said. “I didn’t want to get beat, but I certainly didn’t want to get beat 4-down.”

Love got $500,000, which topped the $470,000 he received for winning the 1997 PGA Championship.

In the 18-hole match for third place, International champ Ernie Els of South Africa easily beat Meshiai 4 and 3 to win $350,000.

The 43-year-old Meshiai still got $300,000, bettering his previous career-high of $297,520 for winning the 1993 Lark Cup.

The $3.65-million event culminated a year-long, single-elimination tournament featuring 32 of the world’s top players.