Wiratchant wins despite Monty's Sunday charge

Thaworn Wiratchant became the second Thai to clinch a European Tour title when he claimed the Indonesian Open but even he could not keep Colin Montgomerie out of the limelight.

There have been 11 rounds of 60 on the tour since it formed in 1971 but few will have come closer than the Scot to achieving the first of 59. Montgomerie missed a putt of eight feet at the last for birdie with his 59th shot of the day.

Still, Monty had another tour best with which to console himself.

After starting at the 10th, he rattled in a record nine birdies in a row from the par-three 17th as he charged up the leaderboard with his 10-under 60 taking him to tied fourth overall on 18 under par.

Montgomerie's secret as usual was devastating accuracy with his irons as he hit 17 out of the 18 greens in regulation, according to the tour's official Reuters Stats.

That was one less than he had in his first-round 67 when he found all 18 greens but his putting on Sunday was far superior, taking 26 putts rather than the 33 he needed on Thursday.

The 41-year-old has now finished in the top 10 in four of his five appearances on the European Tour this season and his tee-to-green stats show the reason for his return to the kind of form which won him seven Order of Merit titles on the bounce during the 1990s.

His driving accuracy average of 74.1% is his highest since the stats were first recorded seven years ago and his success in finding greens in regulation of 82.3% so far in 2005 is similarly by far his best dating back to 1998.

Montgomerie was immaculate from tee-to-green in Indonesia

Montgomerie is still languishing outside the world's top 50 and thus denied an automatic entry for next month's Masters. The reason is his failure to perform quite as well on the putting surface as he has tee-to-green.

His 2005 average of 30 putts exactly per round is a tad better so far than last season (30.4) but higher than all three years before.

If he can reproduce the form with his belly-putter that he found on Sunday, then Montgomerie can again become a serious threat to the world's best.

Wiratchant, meanwhile, may have some way to go before he can match Monty's 28 European Tour wins.

He made his mark in the inaugural co-sanctioned Indonesian Open, though, with the lowest aggregate score in the circuit's 34-year history (255), his 25-under return coming courtesy of three rounds of 63. He will be denied the record, though, as preferred lies were in operation.

His first two rounds of 63 gave him a 36-hole total of 126, the third lowest two-round aggregate in European Tour history, one stoke outside the record.

He follows Thongchai Jaidee, the Malaysian Open champion, as a Thai European Tour winner.