"I felt at the Open I was beginning to be able to get round and putting my shots in the right place," Montgomerie said. "I used to make mistakes, mental errors, but I'm not making them now."
He holed 10-foot putts for birdies at the first and second holes, and hit a sand wedge to two feet to set up his third straight birdie.
He missed from six feet at the fourth but got his eagle from 40 feet at the 568-yard fifth. Then he birdied the sixth with a 9-iron to 18 inches.
Seven pars followed before a birdie at the long 14th, where he reached the green in two and two-putted.
At the Road Hole 17th, perhaps the most famous hole in golf, his second shot finished just over the green on a path between the green and the road. He had to sink a 14-foot putt to save par.
Ferrie, who beat Montgomerie for the European Open title at the K Club in July, shot his second 68.
Bruce Summerhays had five birdies in a six-hole stretch and shot a 6-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead over R.W. Eaks in the first round of the SAS Championship on the US PGA Champions Tour.
Summerhays had seven birdies on the 7,177-yard and Prestonwood Country Club course in his best opening round of the year.
"You always feel good when you play like this," Summerhays said. "The day started kind of bland and then I made a couple of good putts and got things rolling."
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