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Montgomerie drove from Pittsburgh, where he finished ninth on Sunday in the Senior Players Championship, to New Jersey, and then a flight home to Scotland - arriving Monday.
After a few hours' rest, he teed up Tuesday at the Gullane No 1 course, east of Edinburgh, in the hope of securing one of three spots in golf's oldest major - which starts July 18 at nearby Muirfield.
Montgomerie was tied second after the opening with a 69 in the morning, but then got caught up in the slow pace of play to shoot 76 in the afternoon.
"The pace of play was shocking but that's not the reason why I didn't qualify. I was five-under through 12 holes this morning and threw it away. I played very poorly this afternoon," Montgomerie said.
Montgomerie will now take a week off and return to the States next week for the US Senior Open in Omaha, Nebraska.
It will mean missing the Scottish Open the same week and the first time 'Monty' will not tee up in his national Open since his Scottish Open debut in 1987.
Australia's John Wade shot a new Dunbar course record of seven under par 63 to qualify, while Scotland's Lloyd Saltman also qualified for his third British Open. Saltman, who was the leading amateur in the 2010 event at St. Andrews, lives close to Muirfield.
"I'm just delighted big time to be back into The Open and especially Muirfield as I have been driving past every day and watching the stands going up," he said.
"To be now playing at Muirfield and just living 10 minutes down the road is amazing. I've only played there twice before and that's been in the winter when it's been freezing and with the ground solid. I practice at Archerfield but not being familiar with Muirfield I will have to get myself over there."
Others who qualified were Scottish trio Grant Forrest, Gareth Wright and George Murray, India's Shiv Kapur, Sweden's Oscar Floren and five Englishmen: Jimmy Mullen, Steven Tiley, Tyrrell Hatton, Ben Stow and Matthew Fitzpatrick.
