Victorious Monty to cut back

Colin Montgomerie, the top player in Europe, said today he would cut back on his hectic schedule of tournament golf.

Winner of a record seven successive European Order of Merit titles, the 37-year-old Surrey-based Scot has decided to lead a less frenetic lifestyle.

After steering Scotland to an historic victory over England in the Alfred Dunhill Cup at St Andrews, Montgomerie said: "This is my 10th event in 11 weeks and that is too much."

Montgomerie paved the way for Scotland's first Cup victory over England in six attempts when he sank a curling 15ft birdie putt at the last to beat Londoner Brian Davis 69-70.

Ryder Cup colleague Andrew Coltart crushed Jamie Spence 68-73, but Gary Orr failed to secure a Scottish whitewash when he bogeyed the first extra hole and lost out to Roger Chapman after both men carded three-under 69s.

The 2-1 defeat, which follows yesterday's 3-0 drubbing by Wales, leaves England with no hope of reaching the semi-finals.

Having been cast in the role of flops alongside England's footballers, the national golf team will play for pride in their final round-robin match tomorrow against ... Germany.

Meanwhile, Montgomerie, a father of three young children, is already looking to next year.

He said: "I'll be putting as much energy and planning into the Majors as ever. But my days of rushing from one European event to another without having time - to use the old Walter Hagen comment 'to stop and smell the flowers' - are over.

"This will represent the start of a new phase in the lives of myself and my family, one in which I'll be very much more relaxed and will devote more of my time to them."

Wales continued their fight for a last-four place by beating Germany 2-1 with Ian Woosnam edging out fellow former Masters champion Bernhard Langer.

Defending champions Spain scraped past Zimbabwe 2-1.