THERE will be an unfortunate absentee at The Players Championship tomorrow: one Colin Montgomerie. But I'm sure he will be quite happy to sacrifice that in favour of a place in the US Masters early next month.

Augusta, starting on April 7, deserves to have someone like Monty exchanging pleasantries with the non-receptive American crowd and I'm desperate to see him record the sort of finish in the Indonesian Open this weekend that would book his place.

He should really have earned the elusive second place finish in China on Sunday. Unfortunately he fell away to sixth at the Yalong Bay Golf Club and failed to climb into the world's top 50 - a ranking that would have automatically handed him Masters entry.

All is not lost though. Monty is still one of the finest around on his day and, with a weakened field expected this weekend, he is more than capable of finishing first in Jakarta.

That should mean the famous Masters greens could be still graced with the bulging figure of Monty and maybe one day he will win his first major.

It would be a shame if someone of his stature would miss out on playing in the Masters, the greatest one of all. He may have never won a major but he has come close at times.

I am not a close personal friend of his, but I did meet him a couple of times in Australia and Dubai earlier this season. He seems more relaxed around people now that he has put his much-publicised personal problems behind him.

He is clearly enjoying playing in tournaments again and, who knows, maybe this is his year for a major triumph - whether it's the Masters green jacket is another thing.

AFTER ten tournaments, the most played by any other player so far on the European Tour, I decided to give both trips to the Far East a miss to enjoy a fortnight's break.

Things have initially gone better than I could have expected in my first season back and, after a gruelling few weeks in the Middle East, I just felt trailing all the way across the globe would have done more harm than good.

This way - by missing China last weekend and the Indonesian Open this - I have been able to spend some quality time at home for a change plus put some hard work in on the Wynyard practice ground.

I did 13 hours work with my coach, Ian Rae, last week at Sedgefield and I will be going up to Glasgow on Friday to see him again. I'm driving well, my irons have been good, while my putting has only been spot on in some rounds.

But there's not that much I can change really. In my last 16 rounds I have not been over par once and I have to be pleased. It's just a case of fine tuning the minor faults.

I have three tournaments back in Europe starting next week - the Estoril Open de Portugal, the Madeira Island Open and Open de Espana - and, in a perfect world, by the end I could have earned somewhere near the £107,000 that should guarantee I retain my card.

MY memories of the Marinha course in Estoril are not good but I will be trying to put those to the back of my mind next week.

Last October, on the Challenge Tour, I missed the cut after shooting 72 and 78 and it was one of my worst showings of last season. But the course was in terrible shape.

I don't particularly enjoy playing in Portugal because the courses tend to be catered more towards holiday-makers and are in resorts. Hopefully it will be better next week and I can continue my promising start and improve on my 29th place in the rankings.

Published: ??/??/2005