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British Open outcome breaks our hearts

The Associated Press

Tom Watson congratulates Stewart Cink after Cink's win in a playoff in the British Open Sunday.

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 19, 2009

Well, golf, you outdid yourself this time. Everyone knows that a dark and evil heart beats inside your core, but what you did Sunday to Tom Watson - did to us all, really - went way beyond your normal mischief.

We know that misery is your middle name, but this was just mean.

As Watson stood on the 18th tee on the links of Turnberry on Sunday afternoon, half a world away from here on the west coast of Scotland, the hopes of every man who ever hooked a drive into a lake or pushed a 3-foot putt 2 feet past the cup rode with him.

After 71 holes at the British Open, Watson had a one-shot lead on the field and eternity in his sights.

All he needed was par. He had already made par twice and birdie once on this hole. Just one more time, one more shot. Just land it soft, putt it close and knock it in. He'd have the championship. He'd be the oldest man to win a major. He'd remind the gods that this baffling, maddening game is not the exclusive property of Tiger Woods and all the other bombers who have remade it in their image.

Watson's second shot from the middle of the fairway bounced long and off the green, though, and his comebacker went about 8 feet past the hole. His putt to win the tournament was short and off line. The four-hole playoff with Stewart Cink to decide the tournament was a blowout.

This was the alarm clock ringing Monday morning, right when the dream is at its best. For three days and 17 holes we had not allowed ourselves to believe a 59-year-old man could really win a major. And when we finally gave in and arms opened wide to embrace the most impossible dream come true of our sporting lives, something like that happened.

Damn you, golf.

"It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn't it?" a disconsolate Watson said in the interview room later, after the trophy and the hopes of a generation wound up in the hands of another man. Cink is an honorable human and accomplished player, but nary a 22-handicapper woke up Sunday morning and thought, "I'd sure like to see Stewart Cink win this thing."

Even the victor seemed speechless.

"I don't know what to say," Cink said.

That's golf, I guess.

Until that final hole of regulation and the playoff that followed, the tournament had unfolded like one of those inspirational sports movies that is too hokey to have any chance of really happening - think "Hoosiers" with a 5-iron. Watson was back at the scene of his epic 1977 Open duel with Jack Nicklaus, where he shot 65-65 on the final two days to beat The Golden Bear by a shot.

Watson has eight major titles and five of them came in this tournament. He seemed almost bemused when he led after the first day, and as play continued and he stayed at or near the top of the leaderboard - even as Tiger missed the cut - he called himself a "geezer" and admitted he, like everyone else, wondered how long the ride could last.

He got his answer on his approach to the 18th green. He got his answer with a putt that was doomed from the second the ball left the blade - "a lousy putt" was how Watson put it. He got his answer when Cink was handed the claret jug.

And golf had gotten us again.

Or had it?

We found out that a major can be compelling without Tiger or Lefty in front of the field. We found that a sly ol' shot-maker can contend by managing a course instead of pummeling it. We found out that turning 50 isn't a death sentence in sports - at least in golf.

I wouldn't expect George Brett to come back and win a batting championship or Dr. J to come out of retirement and take Kobe Bryant to the hole, but Tom Watson spent most of four days proving that golf really can be the game for a lifetime.

Golf will continue to mess with our minds and punish us in ways we can't imagine. Every golfer knows, though, that in every round there is one shot that keeps you coming back. One shot that makes you dare to believe in this game again. Though the movie didn't fade to black while the geezer held the trophy aloft, we'll be back.

And no matter what Tom Watson might think, it really was a hell of a story.

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