The two most painful moments in golf happened at the British Open
Over the past 30 years and 120 majors, you could throw a dart and hit a meltdown, collapse, choke or gut punch, many of which happened in the fickle, fabulous British Open, with its high winds, fescue, links architecture and its argyle-wearing old-timers who could probably come back in 43 on Royal Troon simply on course knowledge alone. But the two most painful moments in recent golf history stand head and shoulders above any other. Both happened in Scotland, exactly 10 years apart.
1. A 59-year-old Tom Watson misses putt on 72nd hole to win the Open Championship.
Imagine sports stopped today. Gone - just like that. Then, in 20 years with the benefit of hindsight, we look back at the singular, most remarkable stories of our generation. To me, it's the Williams' sisters and their dominance in tennis. But if one putt had gone a different way, Serena and Venus would have slid down to No. 2.
If Tom Watson had holed his eight-foot putt on the 72nd hole of the 2009 Open at Turnberry, his achievement - a 59-year-old winning a major sports competition against players half his age - would have been the greatest moment in the recent history of sports. He was a famous golfer playing in his favorite tournament - a local hero who was to Scots like Jerry Lewis is to the French. They adored him. He was the outsider who'd figured out their game better than anyone. Now he was on the verge of immortality and fans on both sides of the pond were anxiously pacing around as Watson strode up 18, still trim, still well-dressed if a little-more weathered than in his last Open win back in 1983.
One putt. With the wind whipping, Watson brought back his putter cautiously. He struck the ball with none of the confidence of the previous 71 holes. Watson, and everyone watching, knew immediately. He left it short - short! - the biggest no-no on any big putt.
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Watson would go on to lose a four-hole playoff to the first hard-luck major winner in golf history: Stewart Cink, a popular, affable guy whose inaugural major would have been widely celebrated if it had come against anyone other than Watson.
Any golf fan who today sees the video of Watson missing that putt today feels like they got a golf ball to the gut. (I haven't even watched it while writing this post. It's too painful and I have no dog in the fight.) Watson says he doesn't think of it often. I don't believe him but I hope, for his sake, it's true.
2. Jean Van de Velde's epic, heroic meltdown at Carnoustie.
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“What do you want me to say? I should have played it differently? I believe that, you know, with what I do and the way that I do it, day in, day out … that I played it correctly.”
There was something distinctly French about Jean Van de Velde's 18th-hole breakdown at the 1999 Open in Carnoustie. Van de Velde spent the first 71 holes playing with a cocksure swagger, the kind most unknowns that climb major leaderboards only wish they had. This guy was going to win and he was going to win easily. He was freewheeling, loose, arrogant and amiable all at the same time and hit the final hole with a three-stroke lead, needing only a double-bogey to win. What followed was one of the biggest train wrecks sports has ever seen.
Before we get to it, let's talk about meltdowns. Greg Norman is famous for blowing the final round of the Masters in 1996 - turning an overnight six-shot lead into a five-shot loss. But Norman did that over one whole day of golf. The 78 he put up is proof of his choke but few remember that Nick Faldo went pretty low (67) en route to the win. Even if Norman had shot a one-over 73, he'd still have lost the tournament.
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Jordan Spieth's Masters collapse is more Van de Veldian but his didn't come from bad decisions or, I believe, any sort of choke. He hit one awful shot, frustratingly backed it up with another and the tournament fell from his grasp. He's won multiple majors. He'll win multiple more. That's a blip.
Then there's the swashbuckling Jean Van de Velde. Retelling this story doesn't do it justice. Neither does rewatching it. In the moment, it was the most bizarre sports moment anyone had ever, or will ever, see. (Okay, maybe of the moments that don't include a heavyweight boxer eating another guy's ear.) Still, we'll try:
Van de Velde needed a double-bogey to win the Claret Jug, a boatload of money, instant fame and a long exemption - all the things a middling golfer wants in life. He knew the situation and the play was easy: Treat the par-4 like a par-5, leaving yourself open for a par (at best), a bogey (the goal) or a double (cutting it close, but enough). Instead, Van de Velde pulled driver.
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Hitting 1.
The drive, which would have been a low-iron or a fairway wood for almost anyone else, sailed far right but somehow managed to stay up, giving Van de Velde an easy 160-yard lay-up before the burn that crossed the fairway in front of the green. Lay up, pitch, three-putt for the win.
Hitting 2.
Van de Velde was still all-in though, taking out 2-iron to carry the creek and roll up on the green. It was even more insane than using driver on the tee.
His shot carried the creek (he was right about that) but he'd pulled the ball so far right that it bounced in the stands and caromed backward into the heaviest rough on the course with the water still in front of him.
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Hitting 3.
The ball was completely buried and Van de Velde had that pesky burn to cross. He took back his club, too slowly it immediately appeared, and his downswing was completely snarled in the fescue. The ball floated a few yards, straight into the water.
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Hitting 4.
The ball was slightly sitting up in the drink - the top was almost poking its head out. At this point Van de Velde, quickly running out of options, took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his pants and got in the water, debating whether to play it from there. After thinking about such an easy decision way too long, he did the prudent thing and took the one-shot penalty. (With the benefit of hindsight, I wonder what would have happened if he'd played from the water.)
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Hitting 5.
Because of the ball's flight, Van de Velde had to drop in that same gnarly rough. But all wasn't lost. Get up and down for the win. At this point though, the memory likes to fool us. We think Van de Velde kept making bad, brazen decision after bad, brazen decision, but really, getting down in two from that rough was a near impossibility. This time, Van de Velde took a bigger swing. The ball got over the water, but plunked right into the sand.
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Hitting 6.
Van de Velde had to sink it to win it, but his bunker shot, over a huge lip, didn't play the break enough and the ball rolled 10 feet away from the pin.
Hitting 7.
He has to sink the putt to force a playoff. And here's where my favorite part of the Jean Van de Velde story begins. Others would have left it three feet short on jitters alone. Others might have pushed it way past the hole in anger. Others, long ago grown impatient, might have rushed through reading the break. Van de Velde? He drained it. Dead center, never a bout. Playoff. The Frenchman shouted out in celebration, pumped his fist and then threw the ball back into the burn, a beautiful show of stubborn symbolism.
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Van de Velde was now in a playoff with American Justin Leonard, who began the day five shots back, and Scotsman Paul Lawrie, who had been an unbelievable 10 shots off the pace. On his first shot in the four-hole playoff, Van de Velde had to take an unplayable lie and carded a double-bogey. But he fought back and briefly tied the playoff after a birdie on the third hole. Lawrie answered right back and took a one-shot lead. After Van de Velde and Leonard made a mess of the last hole, he won the Jug by three shots.
The Frenchman reportedly was uncontrollably crying after the loss but showed no self-pity while talking with the press. He's never done so publicly. Seventeen years later, Van de Velde, who retired from golf in his 40s and just began a comeback on the Champions Tour, says he just doesn't have many regrets.
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I believe him.
