Sandy Lyle's attempts to defuse his row with Colin Montgomerie appear to have failed with Monty labelling his apology "strange".
Montgomerie "not very happy" with disruption to Open preparations
Sandy Lyle has attempted to defuse his row with Colin Montgomerie, but the controversy looks set to rumble on with Monty describing his apology as "strange".
Lyle stirred up a hornets' nest on the eve of the Open Championship at Turnberry by
bringing up the "cheat" storm in Indonesia that Europe's Ryder Cup captain was involved in four years ago in an interview last week.
The comments, unsurprisingly, made headline news when published on Tuesday and Lyle subsequently looked to calm matters by explaining himself in a pre-tournament press conference.
"I feel especially bad if I have jeopardised his preparation for the Open Championship," he commented.
However, at no point did he withdraw his statement that Montgomerie had indulged in "a form of what you would call cheating".
Indeed, he went on to add: "It's all been well documented. It's all on video. It's not like I'm pre-fabricating.
"The drop wasn't close to where it should be. And of course on TV it doesn't lie."
Tense relations
His words predictably did not do much to ease what are now tense relations with Montgomerie, who later commented: "It's a rather strange apology to be honest with you.
"It's nothing much to do with me at all - it's all Sandy.
"I've read it and I'm digesting it and I'll let you know when I've digested it further.
"I've nothing much to say. I'm just trying to come down here and compete in the Open and my preparations have been slightly dented.
"I'm not very happy about that at all."
In attempting to explain himself further, Lyle insisted his original comments regarding Montgomerie had come about after he had been continually quizzed about his walk-out from last year's Open Championship and whether it had affected his Ryder Cup captaincy chances.
Ultimately it was Montgomerie who accepted the job, despite the eight-time Order of Merit winner saying "it would be nice" if Lyle had got the nod.
Frustration
In his statement, Lyle added: "In my frustration over continually being asked about the incident at last year's Open Championship I regretfully brought up another old incident, one that has long since been resolved.
"I was trying to make the point by comparison that neither of these incidents had anything to do with the selection of the current Ryder Cup captain.
"I deeply regret making this comparison and apologise to Colin for involving him in my own issue.
"I sincerely hope that nothing more will be made of this issue. I hope our friendship is still there.
"I congratulated him on his Ryder Cup selection. I've got no vendetta against Colin at all. I'm all for him.
"The last thing he wants right now is having all this baloney going on right now before he tees off this week.
"I will speak to him when I can. Later on today if he's here."
However, after the press conference Lyle and Montgomerie did come within yards of each other outside the Turnberry clubhouse, but Montgomerie noticeably strode straight past his compatriot on his way to the first tee for his practice round.
Surprised
It seems clear Lyle's attempts to clear the air have succeeded only in further muddying the waters, with Montgomerie's manager Guy Kinnings seeming to acknowledge as much shortly afterwards.
"Monty was obviously very surprised to read the initial comments by Sandy Lyle and didn't plan to dignify them with any form of response," Kinnings stated.
"However, he welcomes Sandy's apology, although his subsequent comments remain concerning. It is a particular shame that this has happened at The Open.
"Whatever issues Sandy has it is a pity he has dragged Colin into this.
"All Colin wants is to do a good job as the captain and to be here this week to give himself the chance to play well at the Open."
