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Colin Montgomerie

Nationality : Scotland

Scottish professional golfer Colin Montgomerie is widely-regarded as one of the finest players in the world of the sport, having won 31 European Tour International Schedule in an illustrious career spanning back to 1988 - which is a record for a British competitor.

Having taken part in 499 events on the tour, the 48-year-old has surprisingly never won in the US PGA proceedings, despite coming in second place on six separate occasions.

Raised in Yorkshire, Montgomerie spent a number of years playing at the Ilkley Golf Club, where he was tutored by former professional Bill Ferguson. He later became one of the first British golfers to attend a US university as he accepted a scholarship at Houston Baptist.

Despite being regarded as the fourth best player of all time, he is renowned as one of the most acclaimed competitors to never win a major championship.

Nevertheless, Mongtomerie has a record seven consecutive Order of Merits for annual earnings under his belt, after enjoying the achievement every year between 1993 and 1999.

In 2007, the talented player managed to end a 19-month dry spell with a victory at the Smurfit Kappa European Open, which took place at the K Club, to take over Sir Nick Faldo's previous European Tour record of 30 wins.

Despite his disappointing record in major tournaments, Montgomerie is often regarded as one of the greatest Ryder Cup players and captains of all time, having been a member of the European squad on eight occasions and has never lost in a singles match.

During his time in charge, the team triumphed in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Before stepping down in 2010, Montgomerie faced the tough decision of selecting who he would take through to the coveted tournament as he selected Padraig Harrington, Luke Donland and Edoardo Molinari as wild cards.

He was placed under pressure with five players in the top 22 chasing a pick for the highly-prestigious tournament before insisting his job was to pick the strongest side as fans were critical and suspected some players were putting their US tours ahead of the Ryder Cup.

However, Montgomerie and the team - which was made up of some of the sports biggest names including Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jimenez - enjoyed a win against their American opponents by a single point.

Later that year, he was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year total for his achievements as the captain of the victorious side, as well as becoming the only person to have been a winning player and skipper in the Ryder Cup, Seve Trophy and Royal Trophy.

Career Wins
2007 – Omega Mission Hills World Cup (1)
2006 – UBS Hong Kong Open (1)
2005 – Alfred Dunhill Championship (1)
2004 – Caltex Singapore Masters (1)
2003 – Macau Open (1)
2002 – Volvo Masters (1)
2001 – Murphy’s Irish Open / Volvo Scandinavian Masters / Ericsson Masters (3)
2000 – Novatel Perrier Open de France / Volvo PGA Championship / Skins Game (3)
1999 – B&H International Open / Volvo PGA Championship / Standard Life Loch Lomand (3)
1999 – Volvo Scandinavian Masters / BMW International Open / Cisco World Matchplay (3)
1998 – Volvo PGA Championship / One 2 One British Masters / Linde German Masters (3)
1997 – Compac European Grand Prix / Murphy’s Irish Open / World Cup of Golf (3)
1997 – Accenture World Championship of Golf / King Hassan ll Trophy (2)
1996 – Dubai Desert Classic / Murphy’s Irish Open / Canon European Masters (3)
1996 – Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge (1)
1995 – Volvo German Masters / Trophe Lancome (1)
1994 – Peugeot Open de Espana / Murphy’s English Open / Volvo German Open (3)
1993 – Heineken Dutch Open / Volvo Masters (2)
1991 – Scandinavian Masters (1)
1989 – Portuguese Open (1)