Montgomerie Outlasts Love For $1 Million European Titleholder Captures Final Hole To Salt Away World Championship Of Golf

One million dollars 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-5 18th where Love hit the flag stick in Saturday’s semifinals to beat Japan’s Hajime Meshiai.

This time, Love pulled his second shot left and was 60 feet from the pin while Montgomerie lofted his 3-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.”

Love’s 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.

“It’s hard to make an eagle-7. If Colin had my shot on the 18th, it might have been a different story,” Love said. “At least I made him work for it. I didn’t want to get beat, but I certainly didn’t want to get beat 4-down.”

The $1 million check matched Montgomerie’s biggest payday. He won the 1996 Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge in South Africa.

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.

Els, the two-time U.S. Open champ and third-ranked player in the world, had an eagle and four birdies on Grayhawk Golf Club’s 7,135-yard Raptor Course.

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

Montgomerie, the PGA European Tour’s leading money-winner a record five consecutive years, is ranked sixth in the world - one place behind Love. But the two had never faced each other in a head-to-head match before Sunday.

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

Starting next year, the tournament will be played in February at La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif., as part of the four-event World Golf Championships. The renamed Andersen Consulting Match Play will feature a 64-man field based on the Official World Golf Ranking.