Monty misbehaving

Colin Montgomerie had run-ins with a photographer and a television cameraman at the China Open and blamed his outburst not on his inability to control his temper, but rather a nation not yet fully versed in the etiquette of the game.

Montgomerie shouted at a photographer, who apparently was snapping photos during his swing, and later admonished a cameraman for aiming his camera on him while he was searching for his ball, the Associated Press reports.

"It's very difficult," Montgomerie told BBC Radio 5 on Saturday. "This is an emerging nation golf-wise, and is an emerging nation in most events. It's the understanding - the etiquette - of the game that sometimes the Chinese and the Koreans and the Thais and these emerging countries over here in the Far East tend not to appreciate.

"Unfortunately, they picked the wrong guy and the wrong time."

Of course, he could have set his own example for proper behavior by taking these incidents in stride. But then, that's never been Montgomerie's way.

-- John Strege