Ryder Cup Betting / Ralph Ellis / 01 July 2008 /

All the talk this morning is of Andy Murray's fitness after his five-setter against Richard Gasquet but Ralph Ellis tells us why Ryder Cup hopeful Colin Montgomerie is pretty fit these days as well

Andy Murray won at Wimbledon and showed off his new found muscles. But he's not the only British sports star who's been working out.

Cue Colin Montgomerie, who a week ago as he passed his 45th birthday was being written off as a has-been. The man who is arguably the best golfer never to have won a Major looked washed up. He was nowhere in the rankings, had missed the cut in the US Open after not even playing at The Masters, and seemed so far from the leader board for Ryder Cup places it was barely worth putting him on the list.

But something began to change last week when he finished runner-up in the French Open at Versailles. And just as Murray's stamina to turn round an epic five-setter didn't happen by accident, so Monty's return to form has also not been down to luck. Or if it has, as Jack Nicklaus so famously said, 'the harder I work the luckier I get.'

Derek Lawrenson's excellent World of Golf column in the Daily Mail this morning reveals the extent to which Monty, guilty most of his career of carrying a few extra pounds - in fact let's face it, a couple of extra stone - around the golf course, has been found the fitness bug. Declare an interest, Lawrsenson is so much a friend of Montgomerie that he was on the guest list for his wedding celebrations a few weeks back. But it also means he has had an insight into the new level of dedication which he's applying to back up his undoubted talent.

Lawrenson writes: 'In a sport where players half his age are knackered if they play more than three tournaments in a row, how on earth does he [Montgomerie] keep going? For a firm pointer journey back with me a few weeks into the bowels of the Celtic Manor Hotel. There, making a beeline for the gym with his personal trainer, was the most miserable-looking specimen you have seen in your life. Forget how Monty looks when he has missed a 5ft putt. Nothing compares to the expression on his face at the thought of the treadmill. "Not me this, is it?" he said. No, it isn't. Yet he worked out that day as he has done regularly since, and has also discovered the practice ground. In short it all comes down to how badly he wants it.'

So how badly does Montgomerie want it? Well enough that he's driven by the desire to play at least one more Ryder Cup, that's for sure. And if he can take that form into the European Open when it starts at the London Club on Thursday, then who knows what comes next. It certainly makes him blinding value in the betting - as long as [30.0] to win the event. At the very least [6.8] a top five finish looks worth a punt.

Then of course there's the Open looming at Royal Birkdale, a course that should suit his ability to keep it straight. Okay, so he's always lost his nerve at the big events, and as Lawrenson says he has hardly hit a decent shot at a major since he threw away the US Open in 2006. But in a Tiger-less tournament Monty is [75.0] to win it - amazingly that's only five points less than Darren Clarke who yesterday failed in the qualifying at Sunningdale and looks nowhere near finding the form he'll need to reach Royal Birkdale through the back door in the next couple of weeks.

Five things you didn't know about Colin Montgomerie

1.Fancy a snack? His dad was managing director of Fox's Biscuits before becoming secretary of Royal Troon Golf Club

2.He was a trail blazer in going to an American college, Houston Baptist University

3.He's never lost a singles match in eight Ryder Cup appearances

4.He always insists his caddy keeps a supply of bananas - and Kit Kats - to munch on the course

5.He's addicted to car magazines and never travels without a new one to read. He says: 'I find nothing more relaxing than washing my car when I'm at home'

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