"I watched it and obviously felt deeply for Colin," said the Aberdeen golfer.

"It is probably the first time he has done anything like that.

"Most of the time he has played great down the stretch and you just can't see him ever doing that."

A par four would have given Montgomerie his first major, but just like Phil Mickelson the eight-time European number one double-bogeyed to lose by one to Australian Geoff Ogilvy.

"He is fantastic in that situation. To win the tournaments he has and the Order of Merits he has won, he has got to be good under pressure, so it was a surprise," added Lawrie. "But there's time yet - he's only 42."

Just for one more day, though. Montgomerie celebrates his birthday on Friday and would like nothing more than to be back at the top of a leaderboard to show that what happened at Winged Foot has not done lasting damage.

There is some kudos for Lawrie, of course, in being the last European to lift one of golf's four most prestigious trophies. But he views it differently.

"People seem to think that I enjoy it. I don't enjoy it at all," said the man who came from a record 10 shots back on the final day at Carnoustie in 1999 and took advantage of Jean Van de Velde's closing triple bogey.

"I want to be the next European, but I don't enjoy the tag of being the last European to win a major when it is that long a period. You want European players winning majors all the time.

"There was a quote from somebody who said something like 'we need to stop Paul Lawrie dining out on that fact'.

"Dining out? They obviously don't know me very well to say that. I want to see Europeans winning majors and I want to be one of them.

"There is not a reason for it. It is just one of those periods where it seems like no-one is stepping up. But it will happen."