Monty milestone

The Andalucia Open last weekend was a very special occasion for one of Europe's all time great players.

Surrounded by a number of his close golfing friends, Colin Montgomerie was rightly celebrating the milestone of his 500th appearance on the European Tour, becoming only the 18th player in history to reach that mark.

Montgomerie has won a British record 31 European Tour titles - one of numerous standards he has set in a professional career spanning 22 years. During that time, if you added up the amount of miles he has covered in tournaments he could have walked from London to Hong Kong!

Over the years he has set the standards on the European Tour for the rest to follow and even though now his ranking has slipped, the 45-year-old Scot's CV makes for impressive reading. Consistency is so important in golf and two records of which he is very proud is the most cuts made (422 out of 500 tournaments) and 182 top 10 finishes - both Tour records. Who's to say he won't make it to 200 over the next couple of years.

His achievements over the past two decades have been outstanding, including seven consecutive Order of Merit triumphs, three successive PGA Championships, an imperious Ryder Cup record and now Ryder Cup Captain for 2010.

Sadly though, in many people's eyes, Monty will be remembered not for his achievements, but one thing he hasn't quite achieved yet - winning a Major. Six runner-up spots in golf's most coveted championships is not justification for the talent of the man but like Monty himself, I would prefer to concentrate on what he HAS achieved.

Colin Montgomerie may well now be one of golf's elder statesmen, but this wasn't always the case. Like all young pros aspiring for greatness, he served his apprenticeship on the Tour. He had to scratch around for money in order to keep his card more than 20 years ago - back then, reaching the magic mark of £10,000 in earnings - enough to earn a place on the Tour for the following year - was the fresh-faced young Scot's only ambition.

Nowadays the figure is more like 200,000 euro that you need to keep your playing rights! He managed to secure his card with a few well placed finishes and the following year he won his first tournament - the rest, as they say, is history!

Five hundred tour events is a testament to his health over the years. Monty has come in for criticism over the years for his weight and apparent lack of fitness, something that certain members of the press attribute to him failing to win that elusive major. A simple fact is, however, that you cannot play on tour for over 20 years, covering millions of miles around the world, unless you are fit and healthy.

Montgomerie has stated his desire to carry on playing at the top level for as long as he can. He is exempt on the European Tour until 2015 and still looks forward to every event he is a part of.

You could write a whole book on those six runner-up spots, but who's to say he won't still have a great week at the right time and carry off a deserved Major triumph to put the cherry on top of the cream on top of the cake of a wonderful career. It might be a long shot, but Turnberry in July would feel especially nice!