Montgomerie makes his move

More than five years on from his last win Colin Montgomerie forced his way onto the leaderboard in the Johnnie Walker Championship at rainy Gleneagles on Friday.

The 49-year-old tournament chairman - Europe's Ryder Cup captain two years ago, of course - used the final counting event for next month's match to find his form again all of a sudden.

Only 510th in the world now and 173rd on a European Tour money list he has won a record eight times, Montgomerie added a 68 to his opening 72 to stand four under par at halfway. He was in a tie for sixth.

England's Mark Foster, who lost a play-off last year after bogeying the par five final hole, led after a second successive 68 and at eight under was one ahead of Ryder Cup-bound Paul Lawrie and Australian Brett Rumford.

Montgomerie had four successive birdies in a row on the back nine and then had a chance to make it five in a row and go into the joint lead when he was just off the green in two at the 18th, but his chip failed to run down the tier in the green and he had to settle for par.

"That stopped the momentum really," he said after a front nine containing eight pars and a bogey on the seventh. "It started to rain, got really miserable and horrible. I'm wet now and I want to go home."

He lives only a few miles away from the 2014 Ryder Cup venue.

Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, who needs a top two finish to earn a cup debut and push Martin Kaymer out of an automatic spot, was among the later starters. He was in a tie for eighth following his first round 69.

Also four under was Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello, who by winning would miss out on a Ryder Cup place by less than two world ranking points - all because Peter Hanson pulled out of the event on Monday when he no longer needed to play to secure his spot.