Monty - No play-off, please!

Montgomerie: enjoys team golf

Watch all four rounds of the Mission Hills World Cup live on Sky Sports, starts Thursday 3.30am, SS1

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Defending champion Colin Montgomerie is desperate to avoid playing extra holes for a third year in a row at this week's Mission Hills World Cup.

Montgomerie and partner Marc Warren were involved in play-offs at the last two World Cups, losing out to Germany in 2006 before beating the USA last year to win the cup for Scotland for the first time.

Alastair Forsyth has replaced Warren as Montgomerie's partner this week and Montgomerie said: "It's up to Alastair to actually win this year without having to go to a play-off because I hate play-offs.

"My play-off record is terrible and I'm glad I had a partner last year."

The 28 teams play fourballs on Thursday, then alternate foursomes and fourballs for the next three days.

Monty - who has yet to win a tournament this year - reckons getting a good start on Thursday is vital.

"To have two putts for birdie is vital tomorrow," he said. "You have a chance at holing one of them if you have two putts for it."

The eight-time European number one has had a disappointing year, slipping out of the top 100 in the world rankings, but an encouraging 15th-place finish at the Hong Kong Open last week was a boost to his confidence ahead of the short trip to Shenzhen.

"I had a very good chance of winning last week with ten holes to go, so that's a much, much, huge improvement from what it's been going, and I enjoy this format," he added. "I tend to perform better in any team golf than I do on my own."