Colin Montgomerie made a late decision not to play in today's 36-hole US Open qualifier at Walton Heath, saying he wanted instead to prepare for his next two tournaments.
Europe's Ryder Cup captain finished the BMW PGA Championship with a 76 to drop from 10th to 35th and so goes into this week's European Open still seeking a first top-10 finish since last June.
Montgomerie is now outside the world's top 175, yet it was only three years ago that he led the US Open with a hole to play before double-bogeying the final hole.
After missing halfway cuts in Spain and Italy he was lying joint seventh after 54 holes of the Irish Open, then slumped to a closing 80.
On Saturday he went to the turn in 31 to be only three behind Paul Casey, but he finished 16 adrift.
Marc Warren, his World Cup winning partner two years ago, was another of a long list of withdrawals from the qualifying tournament.
Warren was only two behind at halfway last week, but fell back to 21st by also closing with a 76.
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MONTY BIDDING FOR US OPEN BERTH
