FOR a player who has just won his eighth European Order of Merit, Colin Montgomerie has received precious little praise from his fellow professionals.

A plaudit here and a pat on the back there, but hardly anything in the way of spontaneous support for a man who has hauled himself back from golfing obscurity to the pinnacle of the European game.

Speak to the golfing press and they will describe a whispering campaign bordering on outright hostility.

Montgomerie is not a popular winner, and the reason for his ostracism exposes the parochialism and pettiness that continues to hamper the game.

Seven months ago he was accused of a minor breach of golfing rules. Today, he is still seen as an outcast in some quarters.

Despite a continued fall in the number of youngsters taking up the game, golf remains unable to help itself. A potential role model is being besmirched by a wall of silence.

For those who missed Montgomerie's supposed disgrace, it is worth recapping to underline the triviality of the incident.

Playing in the Indonesian Open, Montgomerie hit his ball into an unenviable position on the bank of a bunker on the 14th hole. With lightning in the area, a siren sounded to evacuate the course. Forgetting to mark his ball he retired to his hotel. When he returned the next morning, his ball was gone.

After consulting with his playing partners, he placed a new ball on the ground and went on to make par. Big mistake. Replays showed Montgomerie had altered the position of his ball by six inches. From the outcry that followed, you could have been forgiven for thinking he had cut someone's foot off.

"He has compromised the integrity of the game," ranted tour stalwart Gary Evans. "I was absolutely astonished," roared Asian Tour board member Gerry Norquist. The knives were out.

Montgomerie's response was conciliatory and measured. Denying any intentional wrongdoing, he conceded he may have inadvertently dropped the ball in a different spot. He donated his £24,000 prize money to charity, and even asked to have it removed from his annual earnings, something refused by the European Tour.

Sadly, those actions have merely fanned the flames. In golfing circles, his unintentional lapse is enough to make him a pariah for life. The sanctimony of it all is laughable. One minor mistake is overshadowing everything Montogomerie has achieved in his 18-year career.

Golf's technical nature means honesty is integral. In a world of rampant commercialism it is refreshing to think Tiger Woods is expected to maintain the same standards of etiquette as an 18-handicap hacker.

What is being overlooked in all of this, though, is Montgomerie was cleared. After reviewing the incident, the tournament officials decided he should not be punished a stroke or disqualified.

His misdemeanour, if indeed he had made one, was so trivial it did not affect his final standing.

It certainly did not rank alongside the kind of behaviour taken for granted in almost any other sport. Footballers diving for a penalty or cricketers refusing to walk when they edge behind are all pre-meditated actions aimed at influencing the outcome of a game - all forgotten almost as soon as they have happened.

Montgomerie has not been so lucky. Instead of celebrating one of the most incredible comebacks golf has ever seen he continues to labour under a cloud. It is a sad way to treat someone who knows more about sport's redemptive powers than most.

Football, as we are constantly being told, has changed. The modern game is populated by celebrities rather than players, multi-millionaires who have lost all sense of morality and share nothing with the common man.

Perhaps. Or perhaps it is our relationship with football that has changed. Perhaps things have largely stayed the same, it is just that we now look at them differently:

The Daily Mail (Oct 28): Best: The 12 critical hours - "He was probably the most naturally gifted footballer that the British Isles have ever produced. He brought happiness to millions with his magic on the football field."

The Daily Mail (Oct 31): Pennant shame - "Jermaine Pennant's career as a top-flight footballer is again in doubt after he was ordered home from training with Birmingham, allegedly drunk. Pennant now faces a showdown with his boss - with Bruce unlikely to be sympathetic."

Spot the difference.

This is a sentence I never thought I'd commit to print but thank goodness for Roy Keane.

Just when you thought all footballers had swallowed the same book of anodyne phrases, Manchester United's snarling skipper puts the cat among the pigeons.

Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to be furious at Keane's vitriolic attack on his team-mates - perhaps he should look at why he felt the need to make it in the first place. United have been treading water since Ferguson reversed his decision to retire three years ago and will only drift further unless he finally calls it a day next summer.