Senior Open Championship: Colin Montgomerie feels 'semi-Welsh' thanks to Ryder Cup
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Colin Montgomerie and his team celebrate victory in the 2010 Ryder Cup, which was hosted in Wales for the first - and to date only - time in the competition's history
Colin Montgomerie says he feels "semi-Welsh" as a result of Europe's Ryder Cup triumph at Celtic Manor in 2010.
Montgomerie, 60, is back in Wales for the Senior Open Championship at Royal Porthcawl, which starts on Thursday.
The Scot captained Europe to a dramatic 14½-13½ win over USA in Newport 13 years ago.
"Every time I cross the Prince of Wales Bridge into Wales, memories flood back. That's what life's all about," Montgomerie said.
"I have been adopted here as a semi-Welshman and it's fantastic. Okay I'm Scottish, but semi-Welsh when I come here, I can guarantee it."
Graeme McDowell won the final singles match to secure the Ryder Cup for Montgomerie's team after the USA had fought back having trailed 9½-6½ going into the final day.
The 2010 edition was the only one in the history of the Ryder Cup to be completed on a Monday, after heavy rain on the Friday and Sunday.
"What happened at Celtic Manor, external was amazing for European golf, but especially for Wales," Montgomerie added.
"When I stood up and made the speech at the end, I said the world was watching and Wales delivered, and they did. The world was watching and Wales did deliver in a huge, huge way.
Royal Porthcawl ‘one of the great links courses’
"There wasn't much work done in south Wales on that famous Monday. Thank god they all turned up and sang us home."
Former world number two Montgomerie is an eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner and finished second on five occasions in major championships.
Since turning 50, he has won three senior majors - but he is yet to claim a Senior Open.
Montgomerie finished second to four-time champion Bernhard Langer when the competition was first held in Porthcawl in 2014.
Germany's Langer was also victorious when Porthcawl hosted the Senior Open once more in 2017.
"This is my third time in the Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl and the course improves every year," said Montgomerie.
"I was second here to Bernhard - of course to Bernhard, it's always Bernhard - the first time we played here.
"I beat the rest of the field. I was only 13 shots behind him," he added with a smile.
Montgomerie will be joined in the Porthcawl field by fellow former European Ryder Cup captains Langer, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal, Ian Woosnam and Darren Clarke, winner of the Senior Open at Gleneagles in 2022.
Padraig Harrington was Open champion in 2007 and 2008
Harrington is back in Porthcawl for the first time since being part of the Great Britain and Ireland team who beat an American side featuring Tiger Woods on the south Wales links in the 1995 Walker Cup.
The 51-year-old, whose impressive form this year has seen him touted as a contender to play in September's Ryder Cup, has the chance to become just the fifth player to claim the Senior Open having already won the Open Championship.
"That would be very nice," Harrington told BBC Sport Wales.
"It's one of those things that not a lot of people have done. It says a lot about your longevity when you go and win on the Senior Tour, and it says a lot with the quality of the event. It would be a nice plus, but every tournament I turn up wanting to win."
Woosnam is among the home challengers alongside Phil Price, Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge, who is making his Legends Tour debut having turned 50 earlier this month.
"It's always great to have a major tournament in Wales," said Woosnam, 65.
"I don't play much golf these days. Let's say it's more of a challenge getting round walking than playing golf, but I will try my best and let's see what I can do."
The Senior Open runs from 27-30 July.