Colin Montgomerie reflected on his major championship near-misses as he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in Florida on Monday night.
The Scot is the most successful British golfer in European Tour history, winning the Order of Merit eight times, including seven in a row between 1993 and 1999, and winning 31 events on tour.
Montgomerie also played on eight European Ryder Cup teams, holing the winning putt in 2004 and captaining the team to victory at Celtic Manor in 2010.
The 49-year-old has no majors on his CV, however, finishing second five times, and many have given him the unwanted tag of being the greatest player never to win one.
But despite his failures on the biggest stage, Montgomerie insists he has no regrets from his career.
He told a press conference: “I’ve enjoyed thoroughly my exploits in major championships.
“I just haven’t been fortunate or whatever it takes, I’ve never, ever stood up and made a winner’s speech and said I was unlucky. Never. I never will.
“There’s always a time where a bit of fortune comes your way, whether it be for you or against your opponent at the time, and it just so happens with five runner-ups and two thirds that I just haven’t been so-called fortunate to walk through the door.
“The door has been ajar many a time, I just haven’t been able to walk through it.
“So at the same time, if you’re talking about regrets of any part of my golfing career, I have none. Absolutely none.
“I’ve done exactly what I’ve tried to do. I’ve tried 100 per cent on every shot, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
“We all know ourselves as golfers, my word, sometimes it’s not the easiest game, and we all understand that.
“So it’s just so happens that I haven’t managed to win one.
“I look forward to the Seniors Tour and trying to win them there. Gary Player counts them as majors, doesn’t he?”
Montgomerie announced himself across the Atlantic with a third-placed finish in the 1992 US Open, a tournament in which he would finish second on three occasions, including a play-off loss in 1994.
The Scot also finished second at the Open Championship in 2005 and the US PGA Championship in 1995 after another play-off, but he admits the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot was the most crushing of his near-misses.
Montgomerie double-bogeyed the 18th, allowing Geoff Ogilvy to claim the title, and he said: “The one that does get away, forget the play-offs, is the 2006 Winged Foot.
“I know Phil Mickelson, a fellow inductee now, can say the same. He double-bogeyed the last hole, and so did I just minutes before him, and we threw that one away.
“That’s the one that hurts. The four others or five others really, somebody happened to beat me. The 2006 Winged Foot I beat myself, and that’s where it hurts most. So that has taken the most to recover from.”
Also inducted into the Hall of Fame on Monday night were Fred Couples, Ken Schofield, Willie Park Jr and Ken Venturi.
