COLIN MONTGOMERIE apologised again yesterday for his error in the way he replaced his ball during a golf tournament in Jakarta in March. He did it on the eve of the Celtic Manor Wales Open on a cold, damp and windy day. It was bleak enough as Montgomerie made this confession for him to feel as if he was wearing sackcloth and ashes, even though he obviously was not. “I made a mistake and I acknowledge that fact,” Montgomerie said, stopping short of using the word “sorry”.

The Scot’s comments followed an attempt by Jamie Spence, the tournament committee chairman, to put an end to a story that seems to have run and run. If it keeps on at this rate it will soon be rivalling The Mousetrap.

Spence admitted that mistakes had been made, both by Montgomerie, who broke a rule of golf, albeit unwittingly, and by José María Zamora, the tournament director, who did not spot the infraction.

Spence said: “Colin broke a rule of golf which, under our rules, is a minor breach. He cannot be disqualified and he cannot give back his world ranking points. Nor can he disqualify himself. Zamora is a respected official of the tour. He made a mistake, but he is a good official and one of our best referees. The moment that Zamora said it was OK, nothing else could be done.”

What Montgomerie did was to fail to replace his ball accurately in grass adjoining a greenside bunker, having left his ball the night before when he was hurriedly called off the course because of lightning. On his return the next morning he found his ball had been stolen and placed another one in position with the approval of Arjun Atwal and Thongchai Jaidee, his playing partners.

However, his placement was felt to be so much more favourable — Spence estimated by as much as a foot — that Soren Kjeldsen, a Danish player, made an official complaint and, last Saturday, Gary Evans vented his feelings about the matter, claiming that 98 per cent of his colleagues were angry at the way Montgomerie had been let off.

Between Montgomerie’s mistake in Jakarta and Evans’s outburst, the tournament committee had met at the Forest of Arden and absolved Montgomerie. In addition, at the annual meeting of the European Tour last week, attended by Montgomerie and Evans, George O’Grady, the executive director, silenced any critics with an impassioned defence of his tour staff.

“We thought at the Forest of Arden meeting it was dead,” Montgomerie said yesterday. “We thought that at the end of the players’ AGM it was dead. Now, hopefully, we can start talking golf other than this.”

Montgomerie said that he was unhappy when he saw the footage of the incident but that he did not have the option of returning the world ranking points he had won. Those points contributed to his climbing to No 50 in the world by last Sunday — a position good enough to clinch his place in the US Open, which starts two weeks today. He also said he could not return the money he won for the Order of Merit. He felt the only thing he could do was donate his winnings to the tsunami appeal.

It was put to Montgomerie that this gesture was a tacit admission of his guilt. “There is no admission of guilt,” he said. “It was a gesture on my behalf because I wasn’t happy with what I saw. It was an acknowledgement of a mistake and I hope I have been open about that.”

This may put an end to an affair that has tarnished the name and reputation of one of Europe’s stars at last year’s Ryder Cup. It is an episode that has cast golf in an unusual light and Montgomerie will have to put up with the whispers for his part in it for the rest of his golfing life. The European Tour is likely to make representations to the R & A that in similar situations in future, players must mark their balls.

“I understand that if somebody hits a 300-yard drive, and there is lightning about, they don’t want to have to run and mark it when the siren goes to get off the course,” Spence said. “But if you are standing next to your ball, the tournament committee feels strongly it should be a rule of golf that you mark it.”

So perhaps some good may come out of this after all.

TOUR STATISTICS

STROKE AVERAGE: 1, C Montgomerie (Scot) 69.43 (40 rounds); 2, E Els (SA) 69.47 (32); 3, J Lyle (Aus) 69.78 (18); 4, T Wiratchant (Thai) 69.82 (34); 5, T Björn (Den) 69.91 (46).

DRIVING ACCURACY: 1, P O’Malley (Aus) 75.9% (27 rounds); 2, P Senior (Aus) 72.5 (20); 3, H Stenson (Swe) 71.1 (36); 4, A Marshall (Eng) 70.5 (48); 5, N O’Hern (Aus) 70.3 (18).

AVERAGE DRIVING DISTANCE: 1, R Rock (Eng) 308.5 (25 rounds); 2, F Delamontagne (Fr) 308.2 (34); 3, J Edfors (Swe) 308.1 (16); 4, M Siem (Ger) 307.3 (32); 5, T Moore (SA) 306.8 (30).

GREENS IN REGULATION: 1, Stenson 77.8% (36 rounds); 2, M Á Martín (Sp) 77.0 (41); 3, I Giner (Sp) 76.7 (16); 4, Els 76.6 (28); 5, Montgomerie 75.4 (40).

PUTTS PER ROUND: 1, D Howell (Eng) 28.1 (28 rounds); 2 equal, B Dredge (Wales) 28.4 (36), C Cévaër (Fr) 28.4 (34) and B Rumford 28.4 (30); 5, G Hanrahan (US) 28.5 (12).

Stroke averages include all majors and World Golf Championship events; other categories include European Tour events only

Compiled by Reuters Stats