Ernie Els has dismissed Colin Montgomerie's criticism of his decision to skip the season-ending Volvo Masters, suggesting the Scot is merely shooting his mouth off.

Els yesterday came under fire from Montgomerie who implied that the European Order of Merit meant little to the South African, who has opted to play at the Singapore Open this week.

But after completing his opening round at the lucrative tournament in Singapore, Els hit back at the eight-time Order of Merit winner.

"Well, you know where it's coming from, so it's no surprise," said the world number four of Montgomerie's accusations. "He obviously wants to make some noise and some news for himself, so I take it with a grain of salt coming from him."

Els, who is in the middle of a three-year contract with Barclays to play at the Asian Tour event, implied Montgomerie's comments may have come about because the Scot had not been invited to Singapore.

"If he asked me what the real issue is, he'd also understand," he said. "He's an international player himself. He didn't get in this week so now he's shooting his mouth off, so that's fine."

European Tour chief executive George O'Grady has played down the skirmish of words over the clash of fixtures.

On the Montgomerie v Els exchange, O'Grady said at Valderrama: "I think this shows the passion the European Tour engages.

"Ernie Els is one of the top men in the world. You can say these things. These are grown men. This is a polite spat and nothing more.

"I really don't think my life is about these two getting on. These are top professionals."

In all, six of the Volvo Masters qualified field opted for the money on offer in Singapore instead, and O'Grady said: "All of these players are going to be dealt with and spoken to individually.

"It doesn't mean anybody's taken any big sticks or anything. We will be talking to them about the future direction of the European Tour, how they see it and if in any way we are guilty of this scheduling issue, which naturally enough we don't think we are."

Lee Westwood has accused the tour of "mismanagement" for allowing the conflict to happen, but O'Grady defended the tour.

"I do not accept mismanagement. It's unfortunate the date clashes, but next year we would finish here, then you'd be in Singapore."