Heat builds on Monty to heal Open wounds

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The last time he was there to contest the US Open, 13 years ago, temperatures reached 100 degrees and Montgomerie, struck down by heat exhaustion in his final practice round, spent the eve of the tournament in a medical trailer being pumped full of fluids.

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Wilting: Colin Montgomerie suffers at Oakmont in 1994

After leading by two shots at halfway, he ended up in a play-off with South African Ernie Els and American Loren Roberts.

Els won to be hailed as the new star of golf at the age of 24. Since then The Big Easy' has won two more major championships, while Montgomerie, now 43 and after 61 attempts, is still seeking his first.

His best chance came 12 months ago when a botched seven-iron to the final green at Winged Foot led to a double-bogey six, handing the title to Geoff Ogilvy of Australia.

As Montgomerie heads back across the Atlantic, having missed the cut in the year's first major, the US Masters, he feels a mixture of regret and anticipation.

"It has been a long wait for the US Open to come round after what happened last year," he said.

The pain of blowing his big chance remains, but Montgomerie tries not to dwell on it. "I don't spend every day thinking about that seven-iron," he said. "But because I'm asked in almost every interview I'm forced to think about it more than I'd like to. It wasn't nerves, it was a bad shot.

"I hate the fact I messed up much more than being outplayed by someone, which happened in most of my other near-misses. Ever since Winged Foot I've felt I have to win a major to remove the hurt — that's still the case."

While he will try to seek inspiration from being back at Oakmont, he hopes the weather is cooler.

Last time he ran out of suitable shirts for the 18-hole play-off, turned out in dark colours which attracted the heat and wilted visibly, returning a disappointing 78, when Els and Roberts, round in 74 each,were there to be beaten.

"It was the hottest I've ever been on a golf course," said Montgomerie. "And that includes the Far East. I definitely learned from the experience and I have a lot more light-coloured shirts and I'm much more careful to stay hydrated."