SUNNINGDALE, England (AP) – Colin Montgomerie survived a 12-man playoff Monday, getting one of the final six spots available to qualify for the British Open.

“It’s the first decent thing that has happened to me for a while,” said Montgomerie, who is going through a divorce and has slipped out of the top 50 for the first time in more than a decade.

The British Open for the first time held qualifying at four venues around the world. The United States had its qualifier Monday at Congressional in Bethesda, Md.

Mark Foster, Paul Broadhurst and Nicolas Colsaerts shot 9-under 134 to lead the European tour qualifier, where 120 players competed for 17 spots.

Montgomerie, a seven-time Order of Merit winner in Europe, missed the U.S. Open because his ranking was too low and risked missing the British Open for the first time since 1989.

He now has high hopes for Royal Troon, where his father was the longtime club secretary.

“Now I should have a realistic chance,” he said. “I know every blade of grass there.”

Among those who failed to qualify were former Masters champions Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal and Ian Woosnam, along with Jesper Parnevik and Justin Rose.

Rose, the 36-hole leader at the Masters this year, was tied for second after the first 18 holes until stumbling to a 73 to miss the playoff by one shot.

Others who qualified were Paul McGinely; Kenneth Ferrie; Euan Little; Simon Wakefield; Miles Tunnicliff; Christian Cevaer; Klas Eriksson, Gary Emerson, Eduardo Romero; Marten Olander; Peter Hedblom; Maarten Lafeber; and Warren Bennett.

AP-ES-06-28-04 1837EDT