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Sure, we wanted Watson's putt to go in

The Associated Press

Tom Watson's bogey on the 72nd hole set up a playoff, and that playoff was over nearly before it began.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 20, 2009

Updated: 07/20/2009 09:54 am

Did you want it to go in?

Of course, you wanted it to go in.

I can think of few people who didn't have that Stewart Cinking feeling as the Tom Watson Miracle Network went off the air just a handful of strokes from history for all time. We're in mourning this morning.

One of the great stories in sports fled in the blink of an eye.

Shattered. Devastated.

And that's just us.

What about Tom Watson?

Did you want it to go in? Did you want that turn-back-the-clock British Open par putt to fall on the 18th green at Turnberry on Sunday, giving the royal and ancient Watson a win for the ages and aged?

Of course, we all wanted it to go in.

Instead, he lost out on the last hole, then lost across four playoff holes to make it official.

Stewart Cink, a good golfer and guy, won it. He was no villain.

Then why do we feel robbed?

"It would have been a helluva story," a heartbroken Watson said.

We feel robbed because of the prospect of a man 59 years, 318 days old winning a major golf championship - the idea burned in your brain as Watson walked the course.

How could you not watch?

It arguably would have been the most amazing feat in golf history - actually, forget arguably. It would have beaten anything Jack Nicklaus did, and maybe anything Tiger Woods will ever do.

Today is the 40th anniversary of men first walking on the moon. I'm not trying to draw comparisons or anything, but I could have sworn I saw lunar dust kicking up as Thomas Sturges Watson walked the 18th fairway.

He would have been the oldest man to win a PGA Tour event.

By far, he would have been the oldest winner of a major.

It would have been one of the great sports stories of our time or any other time.

Watson last won a major in 1983. Ronald Reagan was in his third year in the White House and Michael Jordan was in his second year at North Carolina. Tiger Woods was 7.

Did you think about Watson and start to even cry at the idea of him winning? I was sitting 4,000 miles away watching TV, and I think I would have lost it if he'd won.

Isn't that why we watch these little games people play - to see things we never thought we'd see?

So old Tom Watson stepped up to his ball on the 18th fairway and swung his iron.

I'll never say it was a choke. But with history in his grasp, Watson's second shot on his 72nd hole of play hit the green and, still in a hurry, rolled off the back. He putted once, and the ball rolled on by. The tournament was still his to win. Just sink that par putt. What was it, 8 feet?

Did you want it to go in?

Watson was seized by the moment in all the wrong ways. He clutched up. The par putt died short of the hole. It never had a chance.

And that was the end of the dream. Watson's bogey set up a playoff with Cink, and that playoff was over nearly before it began.

What did Watson lose by, anyway. Two shots? Four shots? Six? Did it matter?

Stewart Cink could have been Santa Claus and we wouldn't have been pulling for him to win.

That's just what happens when the dream dies - and you feel a little part of it.

That we did, whether we were 59 or 89 or 29. Whether we enjoy golf or not, whether we were there or just watching TV. For a few moments, we were right there with Tom Watson.

Man, it was great.

Alas, it could have been greater.

Another one bites the dust, albeit lunar dust.

Lord, did we want it to go in.

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