He has a gold jacket - and now Colin Montgomerie has his sights set on a green one to go with it. A Claret Jug would be a nice accessory too, or the proceeds any other major championship trophy for that matter - just as long as it signals the end of his long and so far elusive hunt for a major title.

The Scot was presented with a gold jacket for winning the Australian Masters in Melbourne on Sunday in his first tournament of the season. It proved the former European number one was back to his best and had, more importantly, rediscovered his appetite for the game after an eight-week break following a disappointing 2000 by his own high standards.

Now all that remains is a major title. His first opportunity comes in early April when the coveted Green Jacket of the US Masters champion is up for grabs.

"The Order of Merit is not important at all now; I've done that and got the T-shirt," Montgomerie admitted ahead of his European Tour debut at the Caltex Singapore Masters.

"I don't have to worry about that ever again, and it's nice not to. I had seven years of doing that, and it almost broke me. I want to win in America - that's my goal. Order of Merits aren't a goal any more.

"I'll keep the gold jacket in the wardrobe until I find something to go with it! As for the Green Jacket, we'll see. I'm going to America for a month, and it ends with the Masters at Augusta.

"I intend to play the two tournaments in America before each of the three majors to acclimatise properly for those tournaments and I look forward to that. I'll play less in Europe and more to try and win particular tournaments I haven't done before."

Montgomerie's assault on America will be aided by a new Callaway VFT driver that goes almost as far as the ERC that is currently banned by the United States Golf Association but is still being tested by the R&A.

Montgomerie's major opposition this week is likely to come from Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington, who fought out the sudden-death play-off in Kuala Lumpur last week.

Harrington's second place was enough to move him into the world's top 20 for the first time and the Dubliner will be hoping for a repeat of last season when he lost in a play-off in Brazil and won the following week.

The 29-year-old certainly impressed Masters champion Singh during their play-off battle, the Fijian predicting: "You will hear a lot more about him this year and in the future."

As for his own chances Singh added: "I've never had a problem raising my game the week after a win. Every time I have won I've played well the following week."

"I am not too worried about Colin really because if I think about just one guy I am going to be in trouble. I like to go out there and play the golf course and worry about myself."

Card of the course Hole Yards Par Hole Yards Par 1 407 4 10 381 4

2 207 3 11 431 4

3 402 4 12 223 3

4 540 5 13 574 5

5 179 3 14 190 3

6 451 4 15 495 5

7 453 4 16 441 4

8 366 4 17 137 3

9 378 4 18 496 5

Out 3383 35 In 3368 36

Total: 6751 71

Padraig Harrington is back in action in Singapore after his play-off loss to Vijay Singh in Malaysia last week.