Monty on record form

Colin Montgomerie was in scintillating form today as he set a new course record to become a contender for The Open.

After resuming the second round in 106th place out of 156 starters, Montgomerie rose to fourth place on the Muirfield leaderboard after carding a seven under par 64.

That was 10 shots better than his first round, and it constituted a course record for Muirfield, which has undergone revisions since Nick Faldo won the last Open to be held here on the East Lothian coast in 1992.

Looking at a card that included an eagle three at the fifth and five birdies including a brilliant three at the last, Montgomerie said: "I know I can win. I've never been frightened of winning, ever, and I'm not frightened of winning here. The last hole proved that. If I was frightened of winning I wouldn't have made three on the last.

"I've just got to use that psychology in a positive way over the weekend."

The 39-year-old Surrey-based Scot, desperate to win the maiden major title that would crown a glorious career, was one shot behind the clubhouse lead shared by Soren Hansen of Denmark and Swede Carl Pettersson.

And Montgomerie was four shots behind South Africa's Ernie Els, who made a blistering start to his second round with seven birdies in nine holes to go eight under par.

Having considered the possibility that he might have missed tonight's halfway cut, Montgomerie now believes his name could be the one to be engraved on the Claret Jug come Sunday evening. Montgomerie is sufficiently experienced, however, to know that there is a long way to go before he can make a triumphant march down the 18th fairway.

He said: "I am always a great advocate of saying you can only lose it in the first round, you can never win it in the first round. I was in a very strong case of losing it last night.

"But if you add my two scores together for two 69s at four under, I'd have taken that at the start of the week. I'm in the top 10 right now and that is where I want to be. Now I have got to keep this momentum going."

On a morning when rain swept in from the Firth of Forth to add to the challenge posed by Muirfield, Montgomerie got off to the perfect start with a birdie at the first, a tight par four which many consider to be the hardest opening hole in championship golf.

"It was good to get off to such a flying start with a birdie at the first," he said. "That is a very, very difficult hole. But the most important thing today, after the 74 yesterday, was that I could not afford to drop a shot, and I achieved that.

"Any time you do that round any course, especially a course of this quality, means that everything seems to be in order. The driving's in order, the iron play and also the chipping and putting.

"That all augurs well for the weekend. That was the most important thing that I can take from today, I never dropped a shot.

"If I can keep doing that I have a chance here. But the crowd's reaction said a lot to me. They were right behind me which is super and hopefully I can move forward from here.

"I started at Lytham with a 65 last year and then deteriorated. I hope I can build on it this time. The expectations on me are high in Scotland."