Along with Lance Armstrong’s recent performance at the Tour de France, 59 year-old Tom Watson’s run toward his sixth British Open championship has been both fun and inspiring. This is the same guy who hasn’t won a major since 1983. Unfortunately, Watson’s legs started to give out in the four-hole playoff and Cink soon prevailed.
Those four holes will rank in the annals of sporting cruelty along with leaving Willie Mays in center field when he could no longer shag a fly ball, letting Joe Namath heave interceptions for the Rams or, worst of all, standing by while the great Ali was pummeled by unworthy hacks like Trevor Berbick.
Throughout this most unforgettable of weeks, he’d remembered the man he used to be, resurrecting the champion who’d won the famous Duel in the Sun on these beautiful acres 32 years ago against the mighty Jack Nicklaus.
When his eight iron hit the 72nd green, immortality was to have become a formality. Two putts to win.
And that’s when Tom Watson lost his nerve. That’s when he betrayed his age and the long years it’s been since he’d been a golfer capable of winning majors.
“The playoff was just one bad shot after another,” Watson said, “I didn’t give (Cink) much competition.”
It was obvious, given the polite but lukewarm reception for Cink, that everyone had really come to see Watson achieve this most impossible of dreams.
The writer of the piece, Robert Lusetich, does a nice job describing the showdown. While it’s a shame Watson didn’t win, a story like this is great for sports.
