MONTGOMERIE MISSES AUSTRIAN OPEN CUT BY A MILE - NOW FOR US OPEN

Colin Montgomerie's prospects of US Open glory next week were rock bottom after he crashed out of the Austrian Open today to extend the longest winless streak of his career.
Montgomerie, pictured right smiling (which he certainly wasn't today!) could only add a 74 to his opening 73 for a five-over-par total of 147 at Fontana Golf Club, at least five shots too many to make the halfway cut.
It was not the sort of preparation the Scot was looking for with next week's second major of the season in mind.
Second at Winged Foot last year after taking a double bogey on the 72nd hole to lose by one shot, Montgomerie had been looking for a good performance before returning to Oakmont, where he lost a play-off to Ernie Els in 1994.
Instead, he headed for an early exit after a round of three birdies, two bogeys and two double bogeys, pausing only to say: "I'm hitting the fairways but nothing is happening. I can't make a score and I'm getting used to it."
Starting the day at two over, Montgomerie made the perfect start with a birdie from 20 feet on the 10th, his opening hole. Another birdie attempt from similar range narrowly missed on the next, however, and the Scot was beginning to get annoyed when he pulled a short birdie putt wide from just six feet on the 12th.
There was much worse to follow as the eight-time European No. 1 ran up a double bogey on the next, the 13th certainly proving unlucky for the 43-year-old, whose last victory came in Hong Kong in December 2005.
Attacking the pin after a perfect drive, Montgomerie's approach flew over the green and left him with a tough chip from heavy rough, which he managed to move just a few feet.
From there, his fourth shot ran so far past the hole that it was still his turn to play ahead of the birdie putts of playing partners Paul Broadhurst and Miguel Angel Jimenez - both of which eventually went in to rub salt into the wound.
Montgomerie repaired some of the damage with a birdie on the 15th, only to bogey the next two holes and drop back to four over par.
He found the front edge of the par-5 18th in two, but for the second day in succession three-putted for par and was halfway to the first tee as his playing partners putted out.
The final nail in the coffin came on the third when he duffed his approach into a greenside bunker to run up a double bogey 6, and his frustration was complete when a long-range eagle putt on the last stopped an inch short of the hole.
At that point, Swedish duo Pelle Edberg and Steven Jeppesen and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez shared the clubhouse lead on nine under par, two ahead of Wales' Garry Houston.
Darren Clarke is hovering on the projected cut-off point on one over but is one under for his second round through five holes.

EARLY CLUBHOUSE SCORES

SECOND ROUND

Par 144 (2 x 72)

33 Pelle Edberg (Swe) 67 66, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 67 66, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 65
135 Garry Houston 72 63, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 68, David Park 69 66
136 Richard Finch 66 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 65, Shaun Webster 65 71
137 Stephen Gallacher 69 68
138 Matjaz Gojcic (Slo) 68 70, Sion Bebb 70 68, Ian Garbutt 71 67, Gary Orr 71 67
139 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 69, Francois Calmels (Fra) 66 73, Santiago Luna (Spa) 68 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 67 72, Taichi Teshima (Jpn) 69 70
140 Sam Little 73 67, Oliver Fisher 68 72, Robert-Jan Derksen (Net) 70 70, Graeme McDowell 71 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 70
141 Simon Nash (Aus) 73 68, Carl Suneson (Spa) 69 72, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 70, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 71
142 Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 72, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 74 68, Steve Alker (NZ) 69 73, Danny Denison 66 76, Paul Broadhurst 75 67
143 Andrew Coltart 72 71, Martin Maritz (SAf) 75 68, James Hepworth 72 71, Marcus Higley 73 70, Oskar Bergman (Swe) 72 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 69 74
144 Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 70 74, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 75 69, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 71 73, Matthew Richardson 73 71, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 74, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 72 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 74 70
145 Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 74 71, Thomas Kogler (Aut) 71 74
146 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 75, Niki Zitny (Aut) 74 72, Peter Lawrie 77 69, Uli Weinhandl (Aut) 71 75
147 Colin Montgomerie 73 74, Lee James 73 74, John Wade (Aus) 74 73, Ross McGowan 70 77
148 Gary Murphy 70 78, Andrew Raitt 74 74, Gary Emerson 75 73, Andre Bossert (Sui) 75 73, Thomas Feyrsinger (Aut) 73 75, Florian Praegant (Aut) 74 74, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 78 70, Mark Davis 75 73, Tim Milford 76 72
149 Claude Grenier (Aut) 74 75, Andreas Christ (Aut) (am) 79 70.
150 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 76 74, Jose Filipe Lima (Por) 73 77, Miguel Rodriguez (Arg) 76 74, Benjamin Palanszki (Hun) (am) 74 76.
151 Michael Moser (Aut) 76 75.
152 Morten Hedegaard (Den) 73 79, (x) Wolfgang Rieder (Aut) (am) 72 80.

153 Mark Pilkington (Wal) 75 78.
155 David Dixon 79 76