Sandy Lyle has apologized to Colin Montgomerie a day after accusing his countryman of cheating during the 2005 Indonesian Open. From the New York Times’ Larry Dorman.
In an interview that ran in Tuesday™s Independent, Montgomerie admitted that he inadvertently took a bad drop after a storm delay. The story was picked up by most other British publications, one of which ran the headline, œYou™re a Cheat Monty, in 90-point type.
Montgomerie, the 2010 Ryder Cup captain, admitted he erred in improving his lie by dropping his ball about a foot from its original spot after the delay. He was cleared of any wrongdoing by Indonesian tournament officials in 2005 and donated his £24,000 in prize money to charity.
Lyle, who was still smarting after being passed over for the Ryder Cup captaincy earlier this year, said he was tired of being questioned about whether his first-round withdrawal from last year™s British Open at Royal Birkdale had cost him the captaincy.
He responded to a question about it in The Independent by asking why he should be eliminated from consideration for withdrawing with an injury when Montgomerie was named the captain after doing œwhat you would call a form of cheating.
œI regret bringing up the 2005 incident in Jakarta, Lyle said Tuesday. œColin Montgomerie and I are not at war. Colin is a great champion and a good friend.