Colin Montgomerie: where are all the Scots in pro golf?

Scotland may be the “birthplace of golf", but you’d never know it looking at the world golf rankings.

That is on the mind of Scotland’s highest profile golfer, Colin Montgomerie in Delhi at the Johnny Walker Classic this week, admitting that the country is a perpetual state of “transition” in developing its top talent.

“We’ve been going through it for 30 years - like our rugby team. We never come out of it, really. Our transition with football is the same,” he lamented.

While Montgomerie has had a stellar golf career, he has famously never won a major and is currently ranked 54th in the World Golf Rankings, highest among Scots. The closest behind him is Simon Yates at #157. The country may have a fraction of the population as England, but it still doesn’t justify the lack of top talent. Northern Ireland has the U.K.’s top prospect, 19-year old Rory McIlroy. There was only one Scot on the 2007 Walker Cup squad, 21-year old Lloyd Saltman. Compare that with three from the even smaller country of Wales, which has been rapidly improving its junior golf programs over the past two decades, and it leaves plenty of cause for concern. Heck, even Argentina is now a powerhouse when compared to Scotland.

Currently, Monty is the only Scottish golfer with even an outside shot of making the Ryder Cup team for 2008, and with none of his countrymen climbing their way up the Euro Tour, there won’t be a Scot on the radar for the 2010 Ryder Cup in Wales.

So the question is, where is the disconnect between Scotland’s rich golf heritage and its ability to produce top flight golf talent?