Aug29 Monty engaged

Colin Montgomerie has just got engaged after proposing at Gleneagles – home of this week’s European Tour stop.

His wedding to Gaynor Knowles could take place as early as January.

His fiancée has also persuaded Montgomerie, 44, to move back to Scotland from his base in Surrey.

Monty said: “We are just thrilled and looking forward to the future together. We have not yet made any formal plans but will be planning with the respective families in the coming weeks.”

Friends say the new relationship has helped lift the storm clouds that have blighted Montgomerie’s form since the acrimonious divorce in 2004 from childhood sweetheart Eimear, his wife of 14 years.

Last month, he won the European Open in Ireland – his first title in 20 months.

Mrs Knowles was left £20 million following the death of her husband, George, the head of the Sterling Furniture Group.

BBC golf man Dougie Donnelly, a close family friend of Mrs Knowles and her late husband, said: “My wife Linda and I introduced Colin to Gaynor at Gleneagles Hotel two years ago. We had dinner with them in the Strathearn Restaurant at Gleneagles and just last weekend Colin and Gaynor went back to the same restaurant where he proposed to her.

“The two of them and the seven children had been on holiday in France last week, where they all got along famously. The kids all like each other, which is great.

“Colin will come up here to live after they are married, which we expect will be sometime next year. I am sure he will move up from England sooner rather than later after the marriage. I think they are likely to settle in Perthshire, though not at Gleneagles.”