Watson One Putt Short Of Making Golf History.

As I watched the finish of the British Open this afternoon, it was one of those competitions that happen once in a while where I personally didn’t want either golfer to lose.  You had Stewart Cink fighting to get close enough to win his first major.  And you had Tom Watson shooting to make history and stirring memories in tons of golfers as he played 4 great rounds of golf.

Even though I was enjoying watching both golfers go the title, my focus for this article is going to be on Watson.  Congratulations to Cink on a great victory, but I want to ramble a bit about Watson’s effort.

One thing I heard during the playoff was one of the announcers talking about how Cink had a distinct advantage over Watson because he was so excited to have made the playoff and Watson was down because he lost he tournament when he missed the putt for par on 18 that would have prevented the playoff.

I just hope that Tom was not in that frame of mind because he gave golfers all over the world a tremendously enjoyable weekend watching one of the classiest gentlemen in the game make a run at history.  And he played well enough to win.  Nothing to be ashamed of in his effort. And had Watson pulled off the improbable victory, he would have been the oldest golfer to win a major by 13 years!  And it came down to the last putt on the 72nd hole.

Now I admit that Watson looked tired as he started to make mistakes during the four hole playoff.  Who wouldn’t have?  But I didn’t care, I just kept pulling for him to pull a miracle out of his golf bag.  And lots of golfers that I have already heard from seemed to feel the same way. They were pulling for him to win it.

And even though he didn’t pull it off, in a way he did. What do I mean by that?  Well,  I can’t remember a situation like this where a former champion golfer Watson’s age or even close to it,  played four complete rounds in a major championship with a chance to win on the last putt.  Maybe one round or possibly part of two.  But the entire tournament?  WOW!

And I’m not trying to write about a moral victory here.  I’m not into that.  And while I haven’t seen an interview with Watson yet, my guess is that he isn’t either.  I just want to give him credit for what he achieved this weekend.

At 59 years old he competed with the best in the world, not for one round,  but for the entire tournament.  And with Tiger dominating so much of the golf news in recent years, this was a breath of fresh air and a pleasure to watch.

Tom, my hat’s off to you.  Thanks for all the memories over the years and for a great British Open this weekend.