The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Monty misses out on a million

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Monty misses out on a million

HAIKOU (China): A two-stroke penalty for moving an advertising board cost Colin Montgomerie a place in a playoff for $1.28 million on Sunday as Mexico's Lorena Ochoa won the inaugural Star Trophy in China.

The former women's World No. 1, who retired from the professional tour in May to start a family, carded a two-under-par second round 71 to finish on four under for the pro-celebrity tournament.

Victorious Ryder Cup captain Montgomerie also shot four under, but was penalised because his caddie helped to move a fairway advertising board out of the way of his ball and finished on two-under-par 144 for the tournament.

Hollywood stars including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Hugh Grant and Christian Slater played in the event at the Mission Hills course in Haikou, on the southern Chinese holiday island of Hainan.

A clearly furious Montgomerie left the course immediately after his round, without speaking to reporters, but tournament director David Parkin said the rules had been made clear to the players.

“This competition is run under the conditions of competition and local rules. One of the conditions is temporary immovable objects and it includes advertising boards,” Parkin said.

“Unfortunately, on the 16th hole Colin's caddie has gone forward and with a helper moved the board. As soon as the board was moved by his caddie — and obviously any penalty his caddie incurs passes to him —— as soon as he lifted it and moved it, there was a penalty.

Parkin said that to be fair to Ochoa, there could be no room for flexibility on the ruling — and no other player had tried to move any of the boards.

“What do you say to Lorena then? It should have been penalised but we're not going to penalise it? You've got to do the right thing,” he said.

Japanese pro Ryuji Amada also fell foul of the officials when a mix-up over the “preferred lie” rule, which lets a player pick the ball up to clean it, saw him handed a 26-shot penalty on his first round.

Four-time LPGA player of the year Ochoa, who notched up 27 career wins including two Majors, said she was delighted with her performance.

“It's been two beautiful days for me. I've played solid golf, now it's time to enjoy it. I couldn't be happier,” she said.

Montgomerie was recently involved in a serious car crash in Scotland on October 21, injuring his hip and ribcage, and said he had defied medical advice to play in the Star Trophy.

On Saturday the 47-year-old admitted he was still suffering flashbacks from the accident, in which his car collided with a van on a main road near Glasgow. — AFP

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