This is no time for Colin Montgomerie to get excited about Carnoustie.

He already has suffered enough.

The sometimes burly, often surly Scot should be positively chuffed with the British Open only a week away. Having gone 18 months without a trophy that belonged only to him, Montgomerie ended one of the longest dry spells of his career when his 6-iron somehow stayed out of the water on the 18th hole and he won the European Open by one shot.

It was his 31st victory on the European Tour, one more than Nick Faldo, trailing only Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer. It came three weeks after he shot 82 in the U.S. Open to miss the cut, and two weeks after he turned 44.

“It is just great at 44 to come back and win again, as sometimes that is the end of one’s career,” Montgomerie said. “And I feel this is a new beginning for me, and I can look forward now.”

Forward, in this case, starts with the Scottish Open this week at Loch Lomond. The grand prize is a silver claret jug at Carnoustie, where Montgomerie believes he still has time to end his 0-for-62 drought in the majors.

But he might be kidding himself.

Since the Masters began in 1934, only six players have won their first major championship after turning 40, and none has nearly as much scar tissue as Montgomerie.

No other player has been runner-up five times in a major without eventually winning one.

Montgomerie was in a three-man playoff in the U.S. Open at Oakmont in 1994 when he wore dark clothes in 100-degree heat and wilted. He ran off three straight birdies at Riviera in the ’95 PGA Championship to get into another playoff, only for Steve Elkington to win with a birdie on the first extra hole. There was Congressional in 1997, when Monty took forever over a 5-foot par putt on the 71st hole and missed, losing again to Ernie Els in the U.S. Open.

And last year at Winged Foot felt like root canal without Novocain.

Standing in the 18th fairway with a 7-iron in hand, Montgomerie chunked his approach and three-putted for double bogey, finishing one shot behind Geoff Ogilvy. It was the worst collapse at Winged Foot, even though Phil Mickelson’s double bogey was more spectacular.

There have been other not-so-memorable moments at the majors.

He was asked Sunday if he had doubts he would ever win again.

“Of course,” he replied. “There will be a time where I will have my last win somewhere, and I will always remember it. I hope it is not this one, but if it is, I will savor this for the rest of my life.”