I Felt Like Nervous Teenager Ditching Monty

Apr 13 2008 By Euan Mclean

SCOTS caddy Craig Connelly nervously dialled Colin Montgomerie's number feeling like an awkward adolescent phoning to ask the best-looking girl in school for a date.

After a couple of aborted attempts ended with him slamming down the receiver before Monty could answer, he finally plucked up the courage to stay on the line for one of the hardest calls he has ever made.

It's two months since the Glaswegian told Scotland's leading golfer he was ditching him to return to his old friend Paul Casey.

He doesn't regret the move for a minute - especially not this week as he soaks up the sun at Augusta.

But Connelly admits only the lure of the "unfinished business" of helping Casey win a Major could lure him away from a job he loved.

Connelly, who worked for seven successful months with Monty, said: "I loved working with Colin, we had a great relationship but I just felt that Paul and I belong together.

"I know everything about him and he knows everything about me.

"He's the only guy I'd have left Colin for - except Tiger, of course!

"It was extremely hard to tell Colin I was leaving. I bottled it, dialling the number then hanging up. It felt a bit like trying to pluck up the courage to phone a girl to ask her out when I was a teenager.

"I was nearly at the stage of rehearsing what I was going to say, picking up a brush and practising in the mirror, saying 'Colin...' "But he understood where I was coming from but it must have been a surprise because he is used to calling the shots.

"It's fantastic to be working with Paul again. Towards the end of our first time working together we were starting to niggle at each other and agreed to part in order to save our friendship.

"Paul was so tough on himself that sometimes it came out on me but certainly these last couple of months he's been more easy going.

"We benefited from the break.

We both grew up a bit in that time even though we stayed in contact.

"Deep down I felt we would work together again and going back after seven months with Colin was so easy. We just fitted in together as if I'd never been away."