Behind Tony Jacklin's lead, Colin Montgomerie and Team Europe take charge early at World Champions Cup

BRADENTON, Fla. – Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie was a stalwart for Team Europe in the Ryder Cup for years, but having turned 60 last summer, he figured his days with his name on a team bag were well behind him.

Then the inaugural World Champions Cup came along, pitting PGA TOUR Champions players from Europe, the United States and the rest of the world (Internationals) against each other once again. Quite fittingly, it was Montgomerie hitting the first tee shot of the first session at The Concession Golf and Country Club. He also was the main reason that Europe jumped out to a nice lead in the morning.

The three teams play against one another in this inaugural event, so in the morning Six Ball, a team better-ball match with six balls in play on each hole, Montgomerie and his seasoned match-play partner Darren Clarke – also the team’s playing captain – led Europe out nicely, earning 12.5 of the team’s leading 31 points in the morning. The U.S. was second (27.5 points), and the Internationals rallied late in the opening nine-hole match to get to 22.5. Three nine-hole Scotch Sixsome matches featuring alternate-shot play filled the afternoon schedule.

The same schedule will follow on Friday, and after a day off, play resumes on Sunday with two rounds of Singles.

Montgomerie was picking up from his Ryder Cup days, pouring in early birdies to help his side. The team even added an eagle-3 at the par-5 eighth hole. Clarke started off slowly, but soon joined in. But make no mistake, he tipped his hat to Montgomerie. How would he describe it?

“It was Monty,” said The Open Champion and Senior Open champion from Northern Island, “doing Monty things.”

This is a first-time event pitting three teams, and it took some time for competitors to get a feel for the competition on one of Florida’s toughest golf courses. In the morning Six Ball, for instance, there were three points available on each hole for all three matches, meaning 81 points up for grabs. Two points are awarded to a team winning a hole outright. Between four team sessions and two different sessions of nine-hole Singles slated for Sunday, there are a whopping 648 points available. Every hole is its own mini-tournament. The system is volatile, and teams with a lead have no room to relax.

Steve Stricker, coming off a season in which he won three senior majors, played alongside Billy Andrade for the U.S. and said he had a blast.

“You know, I think it's just going to be tight all the way throughout, there's just so many points out there,” Stricker said. “Six-hundred-forty-eight points. If someone can tell me how many you need to win (he laughs), I think they would be a genius. But it's a lot of fun.”

Getting the day started was Englishman Tony Jacklin, who will turn 80 in July. He is a former Open and U.S. Open champion, a seven-time Ryder Cup competitor, and a four-time European captain. He was asked to hit the ceremonial first shot. Standing on the opening par 4 needing to stripe a drive to carry a daunting lake that sits just off the tee, Jacklin reared back and piped his tee shot, flying the penalty area with ease.

“I don’t know where that just came from,” Jacklin said smiling as he gave the tee to the event’s official competitors. “I wouldn’t want to do it again. I couldn’t guarantee as good a result as that!”

Jacklin co-designed The Concession along with 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus. The name of the course references a short par putt that Nicklaus gave Jacklin – a concession – on the final hole of the 1969 Ryder Cup at England’s Royal Birkdale that assured the match would end in a tie. It was one of only two times that the Ryder Cup ended in a tie.

As the legend goes, U.S. captain Sam Snead was unhappy that Nicklaus conceded the putt, even though the U.S. retained the cup. Nicklaus had too much class to let Jacklin even attempt it, knowing how awful it would be if Jacklin, who had won The Open earlier that summer, somehow missed the putt on home soil. Nicklaus’ gesture is lauded as one of the classiest acts in the history of the game.

They opened the golf course together in 2006. Jacklin said he had a great time doing the design work with Nicklaus, saying that Jack flew in to work about a dozen times, with Jacklin there to pick him up at the airport each time. The Concession played host to a PGA TOUR event in 2021 (World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession) won by Collin Morikawa and has applied to host a future PGA Championship, with the city of Bradenton backing the bid.

“When we built this course,” Jacklin said, “we did it with a view to have events. Ideally, we were thinking of the Ryder Cup, because it (The Concession) was a Ryder Cup moment. But we got the World (Golf Championships) event when it didn’t go to Mexico – Morikawa won – that was a highlight. They’ve applied officially for the ’31 PGA Championship, with local backing from the local government. Fingers crossed on that.

“This is a sort of prelude, hopefully.”

There was nothing about his one swing of the morning that was a prelude. He had one chance – and Jacklin absolutely nailed it.