SAM Torrance has hit back at fellow-Scot Colin Montgomerie, who has

criticised his decision to play in the Austrian Open, which starts

today, instead of the US PGA Championship.

Montgomerie, who is playing in the American tournament, said that

Torrance, Gordon Brand Jr, and David Gilford should have gone to Toledo

because European Tour officials had worked hard to secure invitations.

Torrance said: ''It was pretty ignorant of Monty to say that. I wasn't

invited to the US PGA, I was exempt, and after thinking long and hard

about it, I decided it was in my best interests to play in Austria.

''Monty is second and I'm third in the European Order of Merit and

Monty's cheesed off because, if I pass him and get into second place

after the German Open, I shall get into the World Match-play at

Wentworth.

''He also said we shouldn't be worrying about Ryder Cup points

because, if we win the US PGA, we would get into the Ryder Cup team

anyway. That's a load of rubbish.

''The US PGA will not get you any points and we can't all win it. In

any case, I'm not playing in Austria to get cup points. I think I'm

fairly safe already.''

Torrance said he was playing in Vienna because he wanted to play in

the World Match-play and aimed to be No.1 in Europe.

He is currently third in the money list behind Nick Faldo and

Montgomerie but says: ''This may be my last chance to finish first in

the Order of Merit. I shall be 40 later this month and it might be now

or never.''

The burly Scot is less than #5500 behind Montgomerie but #84,000

behind Faldo. A top-nine finish this week would give him enough prize

money to pass Montgomerie.

Gilford and Brand, unlike Torrance, are playing in the Austrian Open

in the hope of improving their Ryder Cup positions.

Brand is seventeenth in the cup table with 227,000 points and Gilford

nineteenth with nearly 216,000. But as 320,000 is the likely target to

make the top nine who are automatically selected, they need to win the

#41,660 first prize this week to make a significant advance.

Jamie Spence also is looking for Ryder Cup points and he is in a

slightly better position than either Gilford or Brand -- sixteenth with

241,000 points.

As Spence admits: ''I need to win this week. If I did I would move

into ninth place with only two more tournaments with points at stake.''

* FLOODED greens forced the abandonment of play in the second

qualifying round of the Highland Amateur championship yesterday at

Pitlochry. Tuesday's round only counted to produce the 32 qualifiers for

the match-play stage, which starts today. Draw:

D Hamilton (Dunbar) v A Kelly (Alyth); N Panton (Pitlochry) v F

Menzies (Kenmore); G Millar (Swanston) v R McNab (Dunnikier); D A Forbes

(Tantallon) v T McLevy (Blairgowrie); M Wilson (Pitlochry) v E Young

(Lochgelly); S Carruthers (Pitlochry) v J Laird (Pitlochry); B MacLeod

(Blair Atholl) v C Watson (Alyth); J Stevenson (Seahouses) v S Butler

(Old Fold Manor); G Carter (Ladybank) v S Miller (Blairgowrie); L Liney

(Pitlochry) v I Hayward (Shirehampton); R Steib (Yankee Run) v J

Richardson (Downfield); M Rose (Pitlochry) v J Sanaghan (Thornton); R

Dargie (Alyth) v C Bloice (Pitlochry); S McGinlay (Blair Atholl) v K

Goodwin (Newbattle); D Cameron (Pitlochry) v M Ready (Old Fold Manor); R

Moir (Balbirnie Park) v K Liddle (Liberton).