WHEN Colin Montgomerie just fails to win tournaments, as he has had

the misfortune to do eight times in less than 12 months, it is probably

no consolation to him to reflect on either the distinction of the

players who did win the events or that they had to score remarkably well

to beat him.

Last year Sandy Lyle twice had the better of his fellow Scot; the

Australian Peter O'Malley had to finish, eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie,

eagle, to thwart him for the Scottish Open title; and also in the final

round Jamie Spence shot 60 to deprive him of the Swiss Open.

Montgomerie's two other superiors in Europe were Anders Forsbrand and

David Feherty.

Of course, Montgomerie lost out, too, to Tom Kite in the US Open and

now has come his latest disappointment, finishing second to the Open

champion, Nick Faldo, in the Johnnie Walker Asian Classic. There was,

however, one positive benefit to come from his defeat in Singapore.

Montgomerie's #61,100 took his average earnings for his first two

tournaments of this year to #33,136 -- far in excess of the #8500

average he thinks he will need from 20 projected tournaments this season

to retain his Ryder Cup status. His average in 1991 was around #12,000

and some #14,000 last year.

By retaining third place on the team qualifying table Montgomerie is

securing his position so soundly that, as he said, he will be able to go

into his other tournaments in a more relaxed frame of mind. That could

even allow him to play in the Tartan Special championship at Dalmahoy.

No doubt it is worrying to Montgomerie that he cannot translate his

best efforts into winning. There is, however, no other prescription than

patience and as someone said: ''to learn how to win, you must first

learn how to lose.'' Preferably, however, not too often.

It simply is becoming as hard to win tournaments in Europe as it has

been for some time now in the United States. Few professionals anyway

have the dedication, discipline, and technical mastery of the game that

Faldo has above any of his contemporaries on the tournament scene. As

Montgomerie said at Singapore Island: ''All credit to him. He's always

under pressure as the No.1 player.''

And Faldo himself added: ''I wanted to beat the best when I started.

Now it's me that they all want to shoot at.'' Just now Faldo seems

almost to be bullet proof.

Indeed, Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden, the chairman of United

Distillers, felt obliged to remonstrate mildly with Faldo that, having

won the World Championship in Jamaica in December, he had plundered from

Johnnie Walker more than #460,000 within two months.

It will probably not be that way for very much longer, since Faldo

will be 36 in July and the stress and strain involved in competition,

travel, and trying to maintain his pre-eminence will tell sooner or

later.

The decline and struggles of Severiano Ballesteros, also to be 36 this

spring, is a case in point. Still, Montgomerie was ready to pay tribute

after Faldo had further strengthened his position at the head of the

Sony World Rankings and returned to the same position on the European

order of merit which he won last season. ''It's great to have the best

player in the world in Britain,'' Montgomerie said.

His respect for Faldo might well be translated into a Ryder Cup

partnership by the European team captain, Bernard Gallacher. Neither is

Faldo the easiest of players to find partners for, either in foursomes

or fourballs, and so Gallacher -- in the light of more up to date form,

of course -- might decide that they were made for each other.

* FALDO has taken only nine months to build an eight-point lead in the

Sony World Rankings, with seven victories in six countries. The

five-times ''major'' champion had four sub-par rounds in the Johnnie

Walker Classic in Singapore -- his second win in the event -- to

consolidate his No.1 position in the rankings. Top 10:

1, N Faldo (GB) 24.22pts; 2, F Couples (USA) 16.33; 3, I Woosnam (GB)

12.96; 4, J-M Olazabal (Spain) 12.87; 5, G Norman (Aus) 12.75; 6, B

Langer (Ger) 12.57; 7, N Price (Zim) 12.24; 8, D Love (USA) 12.01; 9, J

Cook (USA) 10.60; 10, T Kite (USA) 10.41.