For Stewart Cink, still no regrets about that British win
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
NAPA, Calif. — Sometimes fortune is more important than results. Sometimes it isn’t exactly what you do but indeed when you do it.
Copyright 2020, The Maven
Ryder Cup is Phil Mickelson’s cup of coffee
By Art Spander
SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — The critic had mellowed. Or more accurately, swallowed. “The coffee here is unbelievable, isn’t it?” said Phil Mickelson, not waiting for an answer, as if anyone dared disagree.
“The chocolate,” Mickelson continued, “the food. I had two pieces of bread the other night. I can’t remember the last time I did that.”
Oh yes, Lefty, on stage, off the tee, full of opinions and occasionally himself, playing the game of life along with the game of golf, a personality with personality and one of the great short games.
He’s back for another Ryder Cup, his 12th, knocking balls around Le Golf National, a course some 20 miles from Paris, rather than knocking anyone in charge of the U.S. squad, a veteran who knows what club to hit and knows what to say — even when, perhaps, he should remain silent.
“You would think I would get desensitized to it,” Mickelson said of his years as part of the American team, “but I have come to love and cherish these weeks even more, this week especially, with the amount of not just talented players but quality guys that are on our team.”
He is 48, a generation apart from teammates Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau, nearly six years older than Tiger Woods, his longtime rival.
Along with Woods, Mickelson, or “Philly Mick” as they call him in New York, was a captain’s pick for this year’s team, chosen as much for reputation as performance — although in March he did get his first Tour victory in five years.
Phil was not playing in Friday morning’s four-balls, or better ball, as America tries to end a streak of five straight defeats in Europe, and Mickelson was asked if that happens, after his insistence on change following the loss four years ago in Scotland, would it be one of the crowning achievements in his career.
“I would not look at it that way,” said a magnanimous Mickelson, “because this is a team event and this is an event for all of us to cherish and be part of, and every person from the caddies, the spouses, the captains, vice captains and every player plays an integral part of the puzzle to do well and succeed.”
Of course, four years ago, when the U.S. was pummeled at Gleneagles, Scotland, it was one man, Mickelson, who found a reason and pressed to correct that. Mickelson said that Tom Watson, the captain that year — and for a second time, overall — was unable to communicate with his players and removed them from any part of the decision-making.
The PGA of America, which controls the Ryder Cup — not to be confused with the PGA Tour — took Mickelson’s advice, altered the method selecting wild-card players and the made other fixes. The plan worked, and in 2016 the U.S. won the Cup at Hazeltine, near Minneapolis.
In the 2004 Cup at Oakland Hills outside Detroit, Mickelson was paired with Woods, a dream team that turned into a nightmare. In foursomes, when players hit alternate shots with one ball, Phil might drive into the rough and a glowering Tiger would be forced to extricate the ball with the subsequent shot. They barely looked at each other.
But 14 years make a difference. Now Tiger and Phil, relative golden oldies compared to a Spieth or Brooks Koepka, have arranged to play each other in a multimillion-dollar match. And Phil said he willingly would join Tiger in this Ryder Cup, although U.S. captain Jim Furyk did not give his endorsement,
“I think when we (Woods and Mickelson) really started to work together to succeed,” said Phil, “going back in the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup, we have a lot more in common than we thought, and we came to appreciate working together to achieve things.”
If time doesn’t cure all ills, it does help change perspective. Woods and Mickelson have reached detente at a time in their careers when they can’t always reach the green of a par-5 in two shots.
“When we go over the little details as to why we were or were not successful,” said Mickelson, “it sometimes comes out like I’m taking a shot at somebody. I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Peace in our time.
Bleacher Report: Tom Watson Enjoys Augusta Glory Once Again with Memorable Round at 2015 Masters
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The last we saw or heard of Tom Watson, a classy guy who had the misfortune of being the captain of an American Ryder Cup team that vocally disagreed with his leadership, he was being torn down by much of the media and some of the golfers—most notably Phil Mickelson.
Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Bleacher Report: Team USA Giving Captain Tom Watson a Dismal Farewell at 2014 Ryder Cup
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
GLENEAGLES, Scotland — This was going to be an exclamation point on Tom Watson’s great career, a final glorious farewell for a man appropriately in a land where much of his golfing reputation was established.
He would step out of the past, return as captain of an American Ryder Cup team and through his words and wisdom earn another generation’s accolades, maneuvering and persuading players, some of whom weren’t even born when Watson was one of the game’s greatest stars.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
Bleacher Report: Afternoon Momentum Shift Puts Bewildered Team USA in Trouble at 2014 Ryder Cup
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
GLENEAGLES, Scotland — It was golf’s version of a Hail Mary pass. Or a bottom of the ninth home run. Or really a kick in the head.
The United States grabbed control in the opening morning of Ryder Cup 2014 and then, stunningly, painfully, lost control in the afternoon.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
Global Golf Post: Amid What's Wrong, The Open Has It Right
By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND -- Oh, woe is England. Pickpocketing and shoplifting are on the increase. "Shameful" -- that's what the headline said -- civil servants planned to strike Heathrow Airport as Olympic Games traffic reached a peak.
Copyright 2012 Global Golf Post
Global Golf Post: In Us Vs. Them, Nobody Wins
By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com
SANDWICH, ENGLAND -- To the British, the Open Championship, that exercise in broken umbrellas and broken dreams – for verification, see Donald, Luke and Westwood, Lee – is less a golf tournament than a national treasure to be protected at all costs from Americans.
We are, as George Bernard Shaw pointed out, two nations separated by a common language. More than that, we are kept apart by different sporting philosophies.
Read the full story here.
Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post
For GlobalGolfPost.com
SANDWICH, ENGLAND -- To the British, the Open Championship, that exercise in broken umbrellas and broken dreams – for verification, see Donald, Luke and Westwood, Lee – is less a golf tournament than a national treasure to be protected at all costs from Americans.
We are, as George Bernard Shaw pointed out, two nations separated by a common language. More than that, we are kept apart by different sporting philosophies.
Read the full story here.
Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post
Newsday (N.Y.): Rain can't dampen Watson's spirit at Open
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/rain-can-t-dampen-watson-s-spirit-at-open-1.3029852
Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Special to Newsday
SANDWICH, England -- In the worst of the storm, Tom Watson was at his best.
Which is what you would expect of him. Watson has won five British Opens, from rain to shine. He knows how to handle a links golf course when the weather is beating down on him.
His five victories are second to the six of Harry Vardon, and two years ago, a few weeks before his 60th birthday, he almost had another, bogeying the 72nd hole at Turnberry and losing a playoff to Stewart Cink.
For a while in the third round of this 140th Open, on the links of Royal St. George's, Watson was the only golfer on the course under par for the day, 1 under on the front nine.
Eventually, he slipped to a 2-over 72. But he passed many players ahead of him -- moving up from 46th to a tie for 25th place, and at 4-over 214 is tied with Rory McIlroy, the U.S. Open champion who was this event's betting favorite.
"Conditions were bothersome,'' said Watson, at 61 the oldest golfer among the 71 who made the cut. "You just try to keep your grips dry and your wits about you and go about your business to try and make pars out there.''
Watson has played in worse, although this was bad enough, umbrellas being torn from people's hands and being bent into pretzels by winds gusting to 30 mph.
"Muirfield was worse than this,'' Watson said about the third round of the '02 Open, the day Tiger Woods shot 81. "But the worst I've ever played was at Muirfield in '80, the first round. [Lee] Trevino and I shot 68 and led the field by eight, or something like that.''
Conditions improved in the afternoon Saturday, as often is the case at the Open. But there was no whining from Watson. He is old school. Find the ball and hit it. Then find it and hit it again.
"One of the things you learn,'' Watson said, "is there's a saying, 'Swing with ease into the breeze.' A lot of times, you see these young kids out there trying to hit it really hard into the wind. In my case, I'm 61 and can't hit hard.''
Watson said he was helped by his putting, the part of his game which often has frustrated him in recent years. He missed a couple of shorties Saturday, including on the 18th, but wasn't unhappy.
"Without the putter in my hands,'' Watson said, "it could have been four or five shots higher. My putter was spot-on today.''
Which is what you would expect of him. Watson has won five British Opens, from rain to shine. He knows how to handle a links golf course when the weather is beating down on him.
His five victories are second to the six of Harry Vardon, and two years ago, a few weeks before his 60th birthday, he almost had another, bogeying the 72nd hole at Turnberry and losing a playoff to Stewart Cink.
For a while in the third round of this 140th Open, on the links of Royal St. George's, Watson was the only golfer on the course under par for the day, 1 under on the front nine.
Eventually, he slipped to a 2-over 72. But he passed many players ahead of him -- moving up from 46th to a tie for 25th place, and at 4-over 214 is tied with Rory McIlroy, the U.S. Open champion who was this event's betting favorite.
"Conditions were bothersome,'' said Watson, at 61 the oldest golfer among the 71 who made the cut. "You just try to keep your grips dry and your wits about you and go about your business to try and make pars out there.''
Watson has played in worse, although this was bad enough, umbrellas being torn from people's hands and being bent into pretzels by winds gusting to 30 mph.
"Muirfield was worse than this,'' Watson said about the third round of the '02 Open, the day Tiger Woods shot 81. "But the worst I've ever played was at Muirfield in '80, the first round. [Lee] Trevino and I shot 68 and led the field by eight, or something like that.''
Conditions improved in the afternoon Saturday, as often is the case at the Open. But there was no whining from Watson. He is old school. Find the ball and hit it. Then find it and hit it again.
"One of the things you learn,'' Watson said, "is there's a saying, 'Swing with ease into the breeze.' A lot of times, you see these young kids out there trying to hit it really hard into the wind. In my case, I'm 61 and can't hit hard.''
Watson said he was helped by his putting, the part of his game which often has frustrated him in recent years. He missed a couple of shorties Saturday, including on the 18th, but wasn't unhappy.
"Without the putter in my hands,'' Watson said, "it could have been four or five shots higher. My putter was spot-on today.''
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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/rain-can-t-dampen-watson-s-spirit-at-open-1.3029852
Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Global Golf Post: Watson To Be Honored At 2012 Memorial
By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com
DUBLIN, OHIO — Tom Watson was announced Sunday by the Captains Club as the honoree of the 2012 Memorial Tournament.
Watson won eight majors, including five British Opens, and is no less famous for losing a playoff in the British Open two years ago at age 59.
He follows Nancy Lopez, the 2011 honoree ...
Read the full story here.
Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post
Newsday (N.Y.): Watson hopes to challenge again after near-miss in '09
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- For Tom Watson, the Open Championship inevitably evolves into the past, even if he doesn't want it to.
Either someone is asking about what might have been a year ago or that missed opportunity here on the hallowed golfing ground of the Old Course 26 years ago.
Strange how it is in sports. No matter how many championships you earn, and Watson has five Opens, only one fewer than the century-old record of Harry Vardon, the questions are always about the championships lost.
Such as the 2009 Open, when Watson, age 59, led for 71 holes at Turnberry before a bogey on 18 led to a tie and playoff loss to Stewart Cink.
Such as the 1984 Open here when Watson came to the 17th, the Road Hole, "the hardest hole in golf," tied with Seve Ballesteros and hit a 2-iron onto the road near a stone wall. The bogey dropped him to second.
It was a nostalgic but forward-looking Watson who showed up in the media tent Wednesday, 24 hours before the start of the 139th Open.
"St. Andrews is a hard course to understand," said Watson, when asked his chances. "You have to re-learn it every day."
This will be his seventh and most likely his last Open at St. Andrews, a course on which Jack Nicklaus said "all great Open champions must win," but a course where Watson has only one top-10 finish, that runnerup.
The disappointment of a year past, when Watson was a stroke from becoming the sports story of the year, has not lingered.
"It tore my guts out," said Watson of the final-hole failure at Turnberry, "but I've had my guts torn up before in this game. But it hasn't made any impact.
"People of our age come up to me and say they couldn't stop watching. They say. 'I'm 60 years old, and I've given up on the game or given up on something else, and you've given me hope.'"
The hope for Watson is in 2010 after an 18th place in the Masters and a 29th in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, "It would be a great triumvirate if I did well here at age 60."
Ballesteros is not doing well. He is home in Spain, after undergoing multiple surgeries for a brain tumor. At the Champions dinner, held only when the Open is at St. Andrews, Ballesteros sent a brief video.
"He said I wish I had energy to be there," Watson said. "It was sad to see him. But seeing him I remembered the cheer that went up before I tried to make my par putt at 17 [in '84]. I looked at 18, and there he was [indicating an arm pump.] I said. 'Uh, oh, I have to make it now.' But I didn't."
Watson and several others, including Arnold Palmer, received honorary doctorates from the University of St. Andrews.
"I told Arnold, 'You've always been my idol,'" Watson said. "When I grew up I was a member of Arnie's Army. Then Jack came along and beat Arnie, and I couldn't stand it. I told Arnie, 'The only reason I beat Nicklaus all those times is because he beat you.' He got a laugh out of that."
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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/watson-hopes-to-challenge-again-after-near-miss-in-09-1.2105409
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Special to Newsday
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- For Tom Watson, the Open Championship inevitably evolves into the past, even if he doesn't want it to.
Either someone is asking about what might have been a year ago or that missed opportunity here on the hallowed golfing ground of the Old Course 26 years ago.
Strange how it is in sports. No matter how many championships you earn, and Watson has five Opens, only one fewer than the century-old record of Harry Vardon, the questions are always about the championships lost.
Such as the 2009 Open, when Watson, age 59, led for 71 holes at Turnberry before a bogey on 18 led to a tie and playoff loss to Stewart Cink.
Such as the 1984 Open here when Watson came to the 17th, the Road Hole, "the hardest hole in golf," tied with Seve Ballesteros and hit a 2-iron onto the road near a stone wall. The bogey dropped him to second.
It was a nostalgic but forward-looking Watson who showed up in the media tent Wednesday, 24 hours before the start of the 139th Open.
"St. Andrews is a hard course to understand," said Watson, when asked his chances. "You have to re-learn it every day."
This will be his seventh and most likely his last Open at St. Andrews, a course on which Jack Nicklaus said "all great Open champions must win," but a course where Watson has only one top-10 finish, that runnerup.
The disappointment of a year past, when Watson was a stroke from becoming the sports story of the year, has not lingered.
"It tore my guts out," said Watson of the final-hole failure at Turnberry, "but I've had my guts torn up before in this game. But it hasn't made any impact.
"People of our age come up to me and say they couldn't stop watching. They say. 'I'm 60 years old, and I've given up on the game or given up on something else, and you've given me hope.'"
The hope for Watson is in 2010 after an 18th place in the Masters and a 29th in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, "It would be a great triumvirate if I did well here at age 60."
Ballesteros is not doing well. He is home in Spain, after undergoing multiple surgeries for a brain tumor. At the Champions dinner, held only when the Open is at St. Andrews, Ballesteros sent a brief video.
"He said I wish I had energy to be there," Watson said. "It was sad to see him. But seeing him I remembered the cheer that went up before I tried to make my par putt at 17 [in '84]. I looked at 18, and there he was [indicating an arm pump.] I said. 'Uh, oh, I have to make it now.' But I didn't."
Watson and several others, including Arnold Palmer, received honorary doctorates from the University of St. Andrews.
"I told Arnold, 'You've always been my idol,'" Watson said. "When I grew up I was a member of Arnie's Army. Then Jack came along and beat Arnie, and I couldn't stand it. I told Arnie, 'The only reason I beat Nicklaus all those times is because he beat you.' He got a laugh out of that."
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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/watson-hopes-to-challenge-again-after-near-miss-in-09-1.2105409
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.
SF Examiner: Watson sentimental, satisfied at Open
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner
Surely today will be the last dance for Tom Watson, his final round in a U.S. Open, the tournament that to him is the most important of any, this time being played on the course that to him is the most important of them all.
“If this is my last U.S. Open,” said Watson, “it couldn’t have happened at a better place, Pebble Beach. I’m somewhat sentimental about this place. There’s a lot to this place for me. It means a great deal to play the U.S. Open, but especially at Pebble Beach.”
Read the full story here.
Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company
Special to The Examiner
Surely today will be the last dance for Tom Watson, his final round in a U.S. Open, the tournament that to him is the most important of any, this time being played on the course that to him is the most important of them all.
“If this is my last U.S. Open,” said Watson, “it couldn’t have happened at a better place, Pebble Beach. I’m somewhat sentimental about this place. There’s a lot to this place for me. It means a great deal to play the U.S. Open, but especially at Pebble Beach.”
Read the full story here.
Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company
Global Golf Post: A Masters That Became A Work Of Art
By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA -- This was no Masters. This was a Masters-piece, from, yes, the man who won it, Phil Mickelson, but also from so many others, from Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood, Anthony Kim, Tom Watson, Fred Couples, and no less importantly by the old lady herself, Augusta National.
Read the full story here.
Copyright 2010 Global Golf Post
For GlobalGolfPost.com
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA -- This was no Masters. This was a Masters-piece, from, yes, the man who won it, Phil Mickelson, but also from so many others, from Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood, Anthony Kim, Tom Watson, Fred Couples, and no less importantly by the old lady herself, Augusta National.
Read the full story here.
Copyright 2010 Global Golf Post
RealClearSports: The Masters We Used to Know Returns
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- This was the Masters we used to know. This was the Masters of blue skies and blooming azaleas and golf shots that send an explosion of noise down the fairways and a chill up the spine.
This was the Masters where eagles drop and expectations rise, and the top of the leaderboard becomes a spectator's dream.
Read the full story here.
© RealClearSports 2010
For RealClearSports.com
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- This was the Masters we used to know. This was the Masters of blue skies and blooming azaleas and golf shots that send an explosion of noise down the fairways and a chill up the spine.
This was the Masters where eagles drop and expectations rise, and the top of the leaderboard becomes a spectator's dream.
Read the full story here.
© RealClearSports 2010
Newsday: Watson and Manassero prove golf a game for the ages
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- They are 44 years and six shots apart. And they're both in the final round of the Masters; proof once more that golf is a game for the ages and the ageless.
Tom Watson is 60 and after 54 holes, he is at 2-under-par 214, shooting a 73 Saturday. Matteo Manassero is 16 and after 54 holes, having been the youngest ever both to start the tournament and to make the cut, is 4-over 220 after a 73.
In each case, the adjective remarkable is applicable.
Asked what he would take away from the week, Watson, a two-time Masters champion and last year at age 59 losing in a playoff at the British Open, said: "I don't know yet. It depends on how I finish Sunday.''
Asked the same question, Manassero, a young gentleman from Verona, Italy, who last year won the British Amateur said: "I'm thinking it's a good experience. It's a good experience watching guys who have played for 20 years or so on the PGA [Tour].''
Or 39 or so, as Watson.
On Wednesday night, Watson was given the Ben Hogan award for the golfer who returns to the game from serious injury or illness. Watson shared the award with Ken Green.
Watson had hip-replacement surgery in October 2008. Green was in a serious vehicle accident in 2009 in which his brother and girlfriend were killed. His right leg so severely mangled it had to be amputated.
"With all due respect,'' Watson said when called to the dais, "I am unworthy of this award. With that, I'll step aside for Ken Green.''
Young Manassero, who will turn 17 next week, evinces his own humbleness and respect for the game, though he is also confident about his future.
"My game makes me more comfortable and assured of my abilities," Manassero said.
He plans to play the Italian Open in Turin the first week of May, go to St. Andrew's for the British Open and play six other tournaments - he gets seven exemptions, not counting the British - in hopes of earning his European Tour card.
If he doesn't, he'll play on the Challenge Tour, Europe's second tier, and go through qualifying school.
"I'm comfortable playing with these guys and I'm playing OK," Manassero said. "I think I'm ready."
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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/watson-and-manassero-prove-golf-a-game-for-the-ages-1.1856249
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Special to Newsday
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- They are 44 years and six shots apart. And they're both in the final round of the Masters; proof once more that golf is a game for the ages and the ageless.
Tom Watson is 60 and after 54 holes, he is at 2-under-par 214, shooting a 73 Saturday. Matteo Manassero is 16 and after 54 holes, having been the youngest ever both to start the tournament and to make the cut, is 4-over 220 after a 73.
In each case, the adjective remarkable is applicable.
Asked what he would take away from the week, Watson, a two-time Masters champion and last year at age 59 losing in a playoff at the British Open, said: "I don't know yet. It depends on how I finish Sunday.''
Asked the same question, Manassero, a young gentleman from Verona, Italy, who last year won the British Amateur said: "I'm thinking it's a good experience. It's a good experience watching guys who have played for 20 years or so on the PGA [Tour].''
Or 39 or so, as Watson.
On Wednesday night, Watson was given the Ben Hogan award for the golfer who returns to the game from serious injury or illness. Watson shared the award with Ken Green.
Watson had hip-replacement surgery in October 2008. Green was in a serious vehicle accident in 2009 in which his brother and girlfriend were killed. His right leg so severely mangled it had to be amputated.
"With all due respect,'' Watson said when called to the dais, "I am unworthy of this award. With that, I'll step aside for Ken Green.''
Young Manassero, who will turn 17 next week, evinces his own humbleness and respect for the game, though he is also confident about his future.
"My game makes me more comfortable and assured of my abilities," Manassero said.
He plans to play the Italian Open in Turin the first week of May, go to St. Andrew's for the British Open and play six other tournaments - he gets seven exemptions, not counting the British - in hopes of earning his European Tour card.
If he doesn't, he'll play on the Challenge Tour, Europe's second tier, and go through qualifying school.
"I'm comfortable playing with these guys and I'm playing OK," Manassero said. "I think I'm ready."
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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/watson-and-manassero-prove-golf-a-game-for-the-ages-1.1856249
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Newsday: Tiger comes back with his best first round at Masters
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It was as if nothing ever had happened. Tiger Woods was playing golf, playing it well, and the crowd was huge and appreciative, oohing and aahing and now and then yelling "Go, Tiger!'' or "Come on, Tiger!''
The same as always.
Except it wasn't the same. It was better.
His first competitive round of golf in five months was the first time Tiger Woods had broken 70 in an opening round of the Masters in 15 years.
The questions, the worries, the disillusionment, the disdain were left blowing in the wind that swept Augusta National Golf Club Thursday, when Woods verified that great athletes do not lose their touch even when they may have lost their way.
Woods shot a 68 and is only two shots out of the lead held by 50-year-old Fred Couples.
Lightning didn't flash and the ground didn't shake, although the crowd parted like the Red Sea to give Woods room to get to the first tee for the 1:42 p.m. starting time in a threesome shared by K.J. Choi (67) and Matt Kuchar (70).
Uniformed security personnel walked inside the ropes - extra protection that, with a friendly gallery, proved unnecessary.
Two banners would be hauled by airplane across Augusta National. Not long after the round started, a plane crossed the course trailing a banner reading "Tiger: Did You Mean Booty-ism?''
Then possibly the same plane came back with another, "Sex Addict? Yeah Sure, Me Too.''
"I didn't see it,'' Woods said.
What he saw was an opportunity.
"It felt just like [normal],'' said Woods, whose last round was in mid-November. "I got into the flow of the round early. I got into the rhythm of just playing and hitting shots and thinking my way around the golf course and ball placement. I got into it early, which was very nice.''
"I expected to go out there and shoot something under par,'' Woods said. "I went about my business.''
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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/tiger-comes-back-with-his-best-first-round-at-masters-1.1853532
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Special to Newsday
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It was as if nothing ever had happened. Tiger Woods was playing golf, playing it well, and the crowd was huge and appreciative, oohing and aahing and now and then yelling "Go, Tiger!'' or "Come on, Tiger!''
The same as always.
Except it wasn't the same. It was better.
His first competitive round of golf in five months was the first time Tiger Woods had broken 70 in an opening round of the Masters in 15 years.
The questions, the worries, the disillusionment, the disdain were left blowing in the wind that swept Augusta National Golf Club Thursday, when Woods verified that great athletes do not lose their touch even when they may have lost their way.
Woods shot a 68 and is only two shots out of the lead held by 50-year-old Fred Couples.
Lightning didn't flash and the ground didn't shake, although the crowd parted like the Red Sea to give Woods room to get to the first tee for the 1:42 p.m. starting time in a threesome shared by K.J. Choi (67) and Matt Kuchar (70).
Uniformed security personnel walked inside the ropes - extra protection that, with a friendly gallery, proved unnecessary.
Two banners would be hauled by airplane across Augusta National. Not long after the round started, a plane crossed the course trailing a banner reading "Tiger: Did You Mean Booty-ism?''
Then possibly the same plane came back with another, "Sex Addict? Yeah Sure, Me Too.''
"I didn't see it,'' Woods said.
What he saw was an opportunity.
"It felt just like [normal],'' said Woods, whose last round was in mid-November. "I got into the flow of the round early. I got into the rhythm of just playing and hitting shots and thinking my way around the golf course and ball placement. I got into it early, which was very nice.''
"I expected to go out there and shoot something under par,'' Woods said. "I went about my business.''
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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/tiger-comes-back-with-his-best-first-round-at-masters-1.1853532
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.
SF Examiner: Likeable Watson forced to deal with sting of defeat
By Art Spander
Examiner Columnist
Losing, we have been told, is the great American sin. But was it sinful what Tom Watson did at the British Open? Surely, it was disappointing. The idea in sports is to win.
The reality is that more times than not we lose.
“The taste of defeat,” wrote basketball star and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, “has a richness of experience all its own.”
The memory of J.T. Snow hunched over and staring at his locker after the seventh game of the 2002 World Series forever will remain. Snow and the Giants had that Series won, had a 5-0 lead in Game 6. Yet they didn’t win.
And there was Snow contemplating what could have been, what Giants fans to this day believe should have been.
Tom Watson is very much a part of the Bay Area as the Giants and A’s and the rest of the franchises. He came from Missouri, but was a Stanford man ... still is a Stanford man.
No cheering in the press box is the yardstick to which American journalists must adhere. An event must be approached without bias. In this British Open, however, I cheered silently for Watson.
Not only because of his age, not only because a 59-year-old golfer finishing first in a major championship tournament would have been the sports story of the century, an irresistible tale of persistence and implausibility, but because in this world of fraudulence and dishonesty, Tom Watson is genuine, truthful.
In the winter of 1968 as a Stanford freshman, Watson for the first time competed in the San Francisco Amateur at Harding Park. In the match-play portion he hit an errant shot, into the trees, at the 10th hole I think it was, and after he putted out for what presumably was a par, he said he had moved the ball accidentally at address, thus had a bogey and lost the hole.
No one saw his transgression. The ball had remained virtually in the same place it had been. He received no advantage. But Tom Watson was governed by the rules of golf, as well as his conscience. For him, there was only one way to play the game.
Tom has had his moments, created his legacy. He won five British Opens, two Masters and then at Pebble Beach in 1982 in the U.S. Open. He was involved with Sandy Tatum and Robert Trent Jones II in the creation of Spanish Bay Golf Links on the Monterey Peninsula and has taken part in charity events at Stanford.
He can do without our tears, even though symbolically he deserves them.
Watson played so well for so long in the Open, until the last of the 72 holes, and then as the Bay Area, as America, as the world of golf winced, he messed up, dropped into a playoff and lost to Stewart Cink.
“This ain’t a funeral, you know,” Watson told a grim-faced pack of writers in what the Open still calls the “Press Centre.”
No, it was a defeat, supposedly enriching an athlete’s experience.
You looked at Watson as you did Snow back in 2002 and found that concept very hard to understand.
Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.
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http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/Likeable-Watson-forced-to-deal-with-sting-of-defeat-51368017.html
Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company
Examiner Columnist
Losing, we have been told, is the great American sin. But was it sinful what Tom Watson did at the British Open? Surely, it was disappointing. The idea in sports is to win.
The reality is that more times than not we lose.
“The taste of defeat,” wrote basketball star and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, “has a richness of experience all its own.”
The memory of J.T. Snow hunched over and staring at his locker after the seventh game of the 2002 World Series forever will remain. Snow and the Giants had that Series won, had a 5-0 lead in Game 6. Yet they didn’t win.
And there was Snow contemplating what could have been, what Giants fans to this day believe should have been.
Tom Watson is very much a part of the Bay Area as the Giants and A’s and the rest of the franchises. He came from Missouri, but was a Stanford man ... still is a Stanford man.
No cheering in the press box is the yardstick to which American journalists must adhere. An event must be approached without bias. In this British Open, however, I cheered silently for Watson.
Not only because of his age, not only because a 59-year-old golfer finishing first in a major championship tournament would have been the sports story of the century, an irresistible tale of persistence and implausibility, but because in this world of fraudulence and dishonesty, Tom Watson is genuine, truthful.
In the winter of 1968 as a Stanford freshman, Watson for the first time competed in the San Francisco Amateur at Harding Park. In the match-play portion he hit an errant shot, into the trees, at the 10th hole I think it was, and after he putted out for what presumably was a par, he said he had moved the ball accidentally at address, thus had a bogey and lost the hole.
No one saw his transgression. The ball had remained virtually in the same place it had been. He received no advantage. But Tom Watson was governed by the rules of golf, as well as his conscience. For him, there was only one way to play the game.
Tom has had his moments, created his legacy. He won five British Opens, two Masters and then at Pebble Beach in 1982 in the U.S. Open. He was involved with Sandy Tatum and Robert Trent Jones II in the creation of Spanish Bay Golf Links on the Monterey Peninsula and has taken part in charity events at Stanford.
He can do without our tears, even though symbolically he deserves them.
Watson played so well for so long in the Open, until the last of the 72 holes, and then as the Bay Area, as America, as the world of golf winced, he messed up, dropped into a playoff and lost to Stewart Cink.
“This ain’t a funeral, you know,” Watson told a grim-faced pack of writers in what the Open still calls the “Press Centre.”
No, it was a defeat, supposedly enriching an athlete’s experience.
You looked at Watson as you did Snow back in 2002 and found that concept very hard to understand.
Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.
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http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/Likeable-Watson-forced-to-deal-with-sting-of-defeat-51368017.html
Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company
Newsday: Watson falters, loses British Open playoff to Cink
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
TURNBERRY, Scotland -- It could have been the sports story of many a year, the golf story of the century. Tom Watson, who will turn 60 in September, was going to win the British Open. He had a putter in his hand and the tournament in his grasp.
It was wonderful, fantastic. And then like that, it was gone.
Then like that, late Sunday afternoon, Stewart Cink -- mentioned so often as a probable major tournament winner -- was raising his arms in triumph and reaching for the historic silver claret jug on which his name, as is tradition, already had been engraved.
Watson was a shot ahead after 71 holes of the 138th Open, but he bogeyed the 72nd and came apart in a brutally sad four-hole playoff in which he looked like the 59-year-old man he is, getting beaten by six shots.
Cink, playing five groups ahead of Watson, birdied the 18th hole for a 1-under-par 69 and a total of 2-under 278. It didn't seem to mean much until Watson's 8-iron approach to 18 was long. Using the putter, he took three from just off the green, shot 72 and also finished with 278.
Cink went par-par-birdie-birdie in the playoff, Watson bogey-par-double bogey-bogey.
Tied for third at 1-under 279 were two Englishmen -- Lee Westwood, who held the lead before bogeying 15, 16 and 18, and Chris Wood.
"It would have been a hell of a story," said Watson, who had at least part of the lead in all four rounds at Turnberry, where 32 years earlier he won the second of his five Open titles.
Indeed. Not that the 36-year-old Cink didn't like the story that came to be. He grew up watching Watson's World Golf Hall of Fame career, and to face him in a playoff for a major, Cink said, in a bit of awkward prose, "would be beyond even my mind's imagination capabilities."
The presumption was that holding up the last day was beyond Watson's capabilities. He had hip surgery in October. He plays the Champions Tour, where the courses are not as severe. He had not won a major since the 1983 British Open.
But with a hole to play, Watson was a shot ahead and seemed destined to become by 11 years the oldest man ever to win a major. Unfortunately, he hit an 8-iron when he said he should have used a 9, and the ball rolled off the back edge of the 18th green, Watson made a bad putt, then missed an 8-footer for the par and the win.
"Yes," Watson said, "it's a great disappointment. It tears at your gut, as it always has torn at my gut. It's not easy to take. The playoff was just one bad shot after another and Stewart did what he had to do."
Which was make one good shot after another.
Cink had won other tournaments. He had been on Ryder Cup teams. He just didn't have that finishing touch, a major. He does now.
"How much I needed it, I don't know," Cink said. "I'm not sure I ever thought about whether I was good enough to win a major or not. I knew I'd been close a few times, but I never heard my name tossed in there with the group of best ones not to win.
"So maybe I was starting to believe that, that I wasn't one of the best ones to never win a major."
Watson opened his post-round interview with the admonition, "This ain't a funeral, you know."
It was a golf tournament that gave Watson and others a huge jolt and then, excluding Cink, a massive letdown.
"It was almost," Watson said. "Almost. The dream almost came true."
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http://www.newsday.com/about/ny-spbrit2012984854jul19,0,2597041.story
Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.
Special to Newsday
TURNBERRY, Scotland -- It could have been the sports story of many a year, the golf story of the century. Tom Watson, who will turn 60 in September, was going to win the British Open. He had a putter in his hand and the tournament in his grasp.
It was wonderful, fantastic. And then like that, it was gone.
Then like that, late Sunday afternoon, Stewart Cink -- mentioned so often as a probable major tournament winner -- was raising his arms in triumph and reaching for the historic silver claret jug on which his name, as is tradition, already had been engraved.
Watson was a shot ahead after 71 holes of the 138th Open, but he bogeyed the 72nd and came apart in a brutally sad four-hole playoff in which he looked like the 59-year-old man he is, getting beaten by six shots.
Cink, playing five groups ahead of Watson, birdied the 18th hole for a 1-under-par 69 and a total of 2-under 278. It didn't seem to mean much until Watson's 8-iron approach to 18 was long. Using the putter, he took three from just off the green, shot 72 and also finished with 278.
Cink went par-par-birdie-birdie in the playoff, Watson bogey-par-double bogey-bogey.
Tied for third at 1-under 279 were two Englishmen -- Lee Westwood, who held the lead before bogeying 15, 16 and 18, and Chris Wood.
"It would have been a hell of a story," said Watson, who had at least part of the lead in all four rounds at Turnberry, where 32 years earlier he won the second of his five Open titles.
Indeed. Not that the 36-year-old Cink didn't like the story that came to be. He grew up watching Watson's World Golf Hall of Fame career, and to face him in a playoff for a major, Cink said, in a bit of awkward prose, "would be beyond even my mind's imagination capabilities."
The presumption was that holding up the last day was beyond Watson's capabilities. He had hip surgery in October. He plays the Champions Tour, where the courses are not as severe. He had not won a major since the 1983 British Open.
But with a hole to play, Watson was a shot ahead and seemed destined to become by 11 years the oldest man ever to win a major. Unfortunately, he hit an 8-iron when he said he should have used a 9, and the ball rolled off the back edge of the 18th green, Watson made a bad putt, then missed an 8-footer for the par and the win.
"Yes," Watson said, "it's a great disappointment. It tears at your gut, as it always has torn at my gut. It's not easy to take. The playoff was just one bad shot after another and Stewart did what he had to do."
Which was make one good shot after another.
Cink had won other tournaments. He had been on Ryder Cup teams. He just didn't have that finishing touch, a major. He does now.
"How much I needed it, I don't know," Cink said. "I'm not sure I ever thought about whether I was good enough to win a major or not. I knew I'd been close a few times, but I never heard my name tossed in there with the group of best ones not to win.
"So maybe I was starting to believe that, that I wasn't one of the best ones to never win a major."
Watson opened his post-round interview with the admonition, "This ain't a funeral, you know."
It was a golf tournament that gave Watson and others a huge jolt and then, excluding Cink, a massive letdown.
"It was almost," Watson said. "Almost. The dream almost came true."
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http://www.newsday.com/about/ny-spbrit2012984854jul19,0,2597041.story
Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.
CBSSports.com: Easygoing Cink gives fans fairy tale -- just not one they want
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com
TURNBERRY, Scotland -- It wasn't as if he shot Santa Claus. All Stewart Cink did was shoot under par. That he beat Tom Watson, whose age and reputation made him everybody's favorite, couldn't be held against Cink.
Finally Cink had won a major, the oldest one on the planet, the British Open.
Did it by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation Sunday, and then after the 59-year-old Watson bogeyed the same hole, Cink crushed him in their four-hole playoff.
"It's a surreal experience for me," said Cink. "Not only did I play one of my favorite courses, but playing against Tom Watson. I grew up watching Tom Watson play on TV and hoping I could follow in his footsteps at the Open Championship.
"I feel so happy just to be part of all this."
As he should. As Watson felt so devastated.
After the 36-year-old Cink and Watson tied with 72-hole scores of 2-under 278, Watson, coming unglued, went 4 over par in the four extra holes -- the fifth, sixth, 17th and 18th -- while Cink went 2 under.
A onetime star at Georgia Tech, Cink twice finished third in majors, including the 2001 U.S. Open, when -- despite a reputation for being a great putter -- he missed a short one on the final green that kept him from a playoff. Cink is maybe the best unknown star on the PGA Tour.
He understood the compassion for Watson, a five-time Open winner who by 11 years could have become the oldest champion in a major.
Stewart was the unintended villain, the guy who ruined arguably the best golf story ever.
"Playing against Tom, it was with mixed feelings, because I watched him with such admiration all week," Cink said.
The admiration was universal. Virtually everyone in the boisterous gallery wanted Watson to make history.
"It's not the first time I've been under the radar," said Cink. "I've played a lot of times with Tiger [Woods] and hearing the Tiger roars, and with Mickelson. I'm usually the guy the crowd appreciates, but they're not behind me 100 percent. Maybe this will change it."
Or maybe not. For some, this 138th British Open at Turnberry on the Firth of Clyde will always be the one Watson lost rather than the one Stewart Cink one. The one that might have been.
Cink came in with a 1-under-par 69 Sunday, holing that 15-footer on 18, although at the time, with Watson several holes behind and battling Englishman Lee Westwood, the putt didn't seem that big. As we learned, it would become huge.
An easy-going individual -- and in this world of shouting and waving, that may have kept him in the figurative shadows -- Cink was mentioned by the golfing cognoscenti as one of the game's top players.
He had won other tournaments. He had been on Ryder Cup teams. He just didn't have that finishing touch, a major. He does now.
"How much I needed it, I don't know," Cink allowed. "I'm not sure I ever thought about whether I was good enough to win a major or not. I knew I'd been close a few times, but I never heard my name tossed in there with the group of best ones not to win.
"So maybe I was starting to believe that, that I wasn't one of the best ones to never win a major."
He can stop believing. The way he went through that playoff late on a windy afternoon, going par-par-birdie-birdie, was the stuff of excellence. He talked about Tiger, but Woods rarely has put on so emphatic a performance.
Someone wondered if Cink, who was embraced by his wife and family just off the 18th green, felt he had come in at the end of a syrupy Hollywood film and stolen the girl just before the final scene.
"Well, just as long as I get the girl," said Cink, "I'm OK with that. No, I don't feel that way. I feel like whether Tom was 59 or 29, he was one in the field. I had to play against everybody in the field and, of course, come out on top.
"I don't think anything can be taken away. Somebody may disagree with that, but it's going to be hard to convince me."
Understandably. Cink did what he was supposed to do, win the tournament, although admittedly it was not what many people wanted him to do. The Tom Watson Tale was one that never may come along again.
"I never would have dreamed that I would go up against Tom Watson head-to-head in a playoff for a major championship," Cink said. "That would be beyond even my mind's imagination capabilities."
That's an awkward way of saying that even if the ending wasn't all fuzzy and magical for the world of golf, the story was as good as it gets for Stewart Cink.
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http://www.cbssports.com/golf/story/11969462
© 2009 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved.
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com
TURNBERRY, Scotland -- It wasn't as if he shot Santa Claus. All Stewart Cink did was shoot under par. That he beat Tom Watson, whose age and reputation made him everybody's favorite, couldn't be held against Cink.
Finally Cink had won a major, the oldest one on the planet, the British Open.
Did it by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation Sunday, and then after the 59-year-old Watson bogeyed the same hole, Cink crushed him in their four-hole playoff.
"It's a surreal experience for me," said Cink. "Not only did I play one of my favorite courses, but playing against Tom Watson. I grew up watching Tom Watson play on TV and hoping I could follow in his footsteps at the Open Championship.
"I feel so happy just to be part of all this."
As he should. As Watson felt so devastated.
After the 36-year-old Cink and Watson tied with 72-hole scores of 2-under 278, Watson, coming unglued, went 4 over par in the four extra holes -- the fifth, sixth, 17th and 18th -- while Cink went 2 under.
A onetime star at Georgia Tech, Cink twice finished third in majors, including the 2001 U.S. Open, when -- despite a reputation for being a great putter -- he missed a short one on the final green that kept him from a playoff. Cink is maybe the best unknown star on the PGA Tour.
He understood the compassion for Watson, a five-time Open winner who by 11 years could have become the oldest champion in a major.
Stewart was the unintended villain, the guy who ruined arguably the best golf story ever.
"Playing against Tom, it was with mixed feelings, because I watched him with such admiration all week," Cink said.
The admiration was universal. Virtually everyone in the boisterous gallery wanted Watson to make history.
"It's not the first time I've been under the radar," said Cink. "I've played a lot of times with Tiger [Woods] and hearing the Tiger roars, and with Mickelson. I'm usually the guy the crowd appreciates, but they're not behind me 100 percent. Maybe this will change it."
Or maybe not. For some, this 138th British Open at Turnberry on the Firth of Clyde will always be the one Watson lost rather than the one Stewart Cink one. The one that might have been.
Cink came in with a 1-under-par 69 Sunday, holing that 15-footer on 18, although at the time, with Watson several holes behind and battling Englishman Lee Westwood, the putt didn't seem that big. As we learned, it would become huge.
An easy-going individual -- and in this world of shouting and waving, that may have kept him in the figurative shadows -- Cink was mentioned by the golfing cognoscenti as one of the game's top players.
He had won other tournaments. He had been on Ryder Cup teams. He just didn't have that finishing touch, a major. He does now.
"How much I needed it, I don't know," Cink allowed. "I'm not sure I ever thought about whether I was good enough to win a major or not. I knew I'd been close a few times, but I never heard my name tossed in there with the group of best ones not to win.
"So maybe I was starting to believe that, that I wasn't one of the best ones to never win a major."
He can stop believing. The way he went through that playoff late on a windy afternoon, going par-par-birdie-birdie, was the stuff of excellence. He talked about Tiger, but Woods rarely has put on so emphatic a performance.
Someone wondered if Cink, who was embraced by his wife and family just off the 18th green, felt he had come in at the end of a syrupy Hollywood film and stolen the girl just before the final scene.
"Well, just as long as I get the girl," said Cink, "I'm OK with that. No, I don't feel that way. I feel like whether Tom was 59 or 29, he was one in the field. I had to play against everybody in the field and, of course, come out on top.
"I don't think anything can be taken away. Somebody may disagree with that, but it's going to be hard to convince me."
Understandably. Cink did what he was supposed to do, win the tournament, although admittedly it was not what many people wanted him to do. The Tom Watson Tale was one that never may come along again.
"I never would have dreamed that I would go up against Tom Watson head-to-head in a playoff for a major championship," Cink said. "That would be beyond even my mind's imagination capabilities."
That's an awkward way of saying that even if the ending wasn't all fuzzy and magical for the world of golf, the story was as good as it gets for Stewart Cink.
- - - - - -
http://www.cbssports.com/golf/story/11969462
© 2009 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved.
Newsday: Watson holds on to lead at British Open
TURNBERRY, Scotland -- This can't keep going, can it? Tom Watson can't continue rolling back the years and rolling in the putts, remaining on top of a British Open which may be lacking Tiger Woods but in no way is lacking in subplots, drama and emotion.
For a second straight year, someone out of the past has taken control of the present, making us wonder if anything we know about golf or sports makes sense and whether Watson for one final round is able to keep waking the echoes.
Greg Norman was 53 when he led after 54 holes of the 2008 Open at Royal Birkdale and then, not unexpectedly, tumbled under the weight of the pressure, ending up tied for third behind Padraig Harrington.
Now we wait to see what 59-year-old Tom Watson, leading this 138th Open by a shot, is able to accomplish, not that what he's already accomplished at Turnberry so far hasn't been remarkable.
Watson was 27 when he won the Open at Turnberry in '77, the second of his five Open titles, defeating Jack Nicklaus by a stroke. Jack was 10 years older than Tom. Now Watson's closest competitors are in their 20s and 30s.
Of course, as the saying goes, the golf ball doesn't know how old you are.
Watson began the third round Saturday tied for first with Steve Marino at 5 under par. Marino destructed, a 76 with three 6s, one on a par 3. Watson wobbled, but after he dropped into second by a shot, he birdied 16 and 17 to walk off as the leader.
He is at 4-under 206 after a 1-over 71. Mathew Goggin, an Australian who plays the PGA Tour, and Ross Fisher, an Englishman who plays the European Tour - and tied for fifth in last month's U.S. Open at Bethpage - are at 207. Goggin shot 69, Fisher 70.
Tied for fourth at 2-under 208 are Lee Westwood of England and Retief Goosen of South Africa, a two-time U.S. Open winner.
To make things more interesting, Fisher's wife, Jo, is in London expecting the couple's first child, and he has said he would leave the tournament to be at her side if she went into labor. He has a jet standing by at nearby Prestwick.
Watson has two grown children. And, as he said, a sense of serenity. His poignant story involves memories of his longtime caddie Bruce Edwards, who died in April 2004 of ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease.
"It's kind of emotional out there,'' Watson conceded. "I looked at Ox [his caddie Neil Oxman, a friend and political consultant], after I hit my shot on the green at 18, handed him the club and said, 'Bruce is with us today.' He said, 'Don't make me cry.' So he started crying and I started crying.''
Watson insisted he's not thinking of the magnitude of what has been happening as he tries to become the oldest by 11 years to win a major tournament. Julius Boros was 48 when he took the 1968 PGA Championship.
"First day here,'' Watson said, "yeah, let the old geezer have his day in the sun, a 65. The second day you said, well, that's OK. And then now today, you perk up your ears and say this old geezer might have a chance to win the tournament. It's kind of like Greg Norman last year.
"I don't know what's going to happen, but I do know I feel good about what I did today. I feel good about my game plan. And who knows, it might happen.''
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http://www.newsday.com/about/ny-spbrit1912983429jul18,0,7708853.story
Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.
CBSSports.com: Fisher hopes he, and wife, can hold on for one more day
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com
TURNBERRY, Scotland -- Oh, baby.
This is a matter of, well, golf and life, if not necessarily in that order. Ross Fisher is doing what he can to win his country's golfing championship. His wife is doing what she can not to give birth to their first child.
Until her husband plays his final shot Sunday, which of course both hope will be for a victory in the British Open.
This 138th Open lost Tiger Woods after 36 holes, but it doesn't lack for drama or human interest. Or subplots.
Not when 59-year-old Tom Watson has the 54-hole lead. Not when an Englishman, Ross Fisher, is shot behind, tied for second. Not when Jo Fisher is in the maternity ward down in a London hospital.
Not when her husband has said if she goes into labor he will leave the links to join her.
A couple of days ago, the 28-year-old Fisher said if he were notified the baby was coming, he would be going to catch a plane. But now that three rounds are history and he has a chance to make history, Fisher has begun to vacillate.
Asked what he would do if before he teed off for the final 18 holes a text message arrived of the impending birth, Fisher responded, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Then later he said, "If Jo goes into labor, I'll be supporting her 100 percent, and I won't be here. I'll be with her, because it's something that I don't want to miss.
"It's been an intriguing week. ... I've got through three days, and she's got through three days. Who knows? To win and then get back home and see the birth of our first child would be obviously a dream come true."
Watson finished at 4-under-par 206 on Saturday at windblown Turnberry, on Scotland's western coast. Fisher, with an even-par 70, is at 207, as is Australian Mathew Goggin. Another shot back are Lee Westwood, another Englishman, and South Africa's Retief Goosen.
Fisher mostly plays the European Tour, but a month ago he came in fifth in the U.S. Open at Bethpage, the best finish by someone from this side of the Atlantic. The result was uplifting. The challenge is fascinating.
Only five Brits have won the British Open in the past 60 years, the last one Paul Lawrie of Scotland in 1999. The others are Nick Faldo, the Englishman, in 1992, '90 and '87; Sandy Lyle of Scotland in 1985; Tony Jacklin of England in 1969 and Max Faulkner of England in 1951.
Fisher understands what a victory would mean. But it doesn't mean as much as his child.
"No news is good news," he said of the next few hours. "Hopefully she'll be able to hang on another day, and hopefully I can hang on another day."
In his gallery was a man wearing a billed baseball-type hat with a hand-painted message: "Hold on Mrs. Fisher."
Mr. Fisher has figured out the closing holes of this course hard by the Firth of Clyde. He birdied 16-17-18 on Thursday, 16 on Friday and then 16 and 17 on Saturday.
"Not bad," mused Fisher, a classic English understatement.
Then, egged on, he continued.
"I don't know what it is," he said, "but 16 [a 455-yard par-4 with an approach shot over a burn, or stream] I birdied every day. Seventeen [a downwind par-5] is probably one of the easier holes, and if you don't make birdie, you feel like you've slipped a shot."
Fisher said he likes links courses, having competed on them as an amateur, but in his only two British Opens, he missed the cut at Carnoustie in 2007 and finished 39th a year ago at Royal Birkdale.
And his European Tour record this year isn't terribly impressive. In 19 events, he has missed 10 cuts, including six in succession at one stretch.
Yet he is 21st in the world rankings, having won last year's European Open and this year making the semifinals of the Accenture World Match Play in Marana, Ariz.
"I feel quite prepared to play," Fisher said. "I probably haven't got the experience as to the likes of Tom [Watson], you know. He's been playing this golf for quite a few years."
Another understatement. Watson has been playing links golf since before Ross Fisher was born and has won the Open five times, going back to 1975.
Whether Watson or Fisher is a bigger surprise is anyone's guess. One is two months from his 60th birthday. The other is only in his third year as a touring pro.
"Tom is similar to my story," Fisher said. "It's a bit of a Cinderella story. To be playing as well as he is at age 59, I mean, it's incredible. He won here, what, 32 years ago? So I'm sure there will be a lot of followers out there rooting for Tom.
"But I had my fair share today. It was wonderful to hear the reception, up to every tee, up to every green. Hopefully I can play good [Sunday] and it will be for a win. If not, to push Tom and just put in a good performance."
While Jo Fisher waits a few hours longer for her own special performance.
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http://www.cbssports.com/golf/story/11967129
© 2009 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved.
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com
TURNBERRY, Scotland -- Oh, baby.
This is a matter of, well, golf and life, if not necessarily in that order. Ross Fisher is doing what he can to win his country's golfing championship. His wife is doing what she can not to give birth to their first child.
Until her husband plays his final shot Sunday, which of course both hope will be for a victory in the British Open.
This 138th Open lost Tiger Woods after 36 holes, but it doesn't lack for drama or human interest. Or subplots.
Not when 59-year-old Tom Watson has the 54-hole lead. Not when an Englishman, Ross Fisher, is shot behind, tied for second. Not when Jo Fisher is in the maternity ward down in a London hospital.
Not when her husband has said if she goes into labor he will leave the links to join her.
A couple of days ago, the 28-year-old Fisher said if he were notified the baby was coming, he would be going to catch a plane. But now that three rounds are history and he has a chance to make history, Fisher has begun to vacillate.
Asked what he would do if before he teed off for the final 18 holes a text message arrived of the impending birth, Fisher responded, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Then later he said, "If Jo goes into labor, I'll be supporting her 100 percent, and I won't be here. I'll be with her, because it's something that I don't want to miss.
"It's been an intriguing week. ... I've got through three days, and she's got through three days. Who knows? To win and then get back home and see the birth of our first child would be obviously a dream come true."
Watson finished at 4-under-par 206 on Saturday at windblown Turnberry, on Scotland's western coast. Fisher, with an even-par 70, is at 207, as is Australian Mathew Goggin. Another shot back are Lee Westwood, another Englishman, and South Africa's Retief Goosen.
Fisher mostly plays the European Tour, but a month ago he came in fifth in the U.S. Open at Bethpage, the best finish by someone from this side of the Atlantic. The result was uplifting. The challenge is fascinating.
Only five Brits have won the British Open in the past 60 years, the last one Paul Lawrie of Scotland in 1999. The others are Nick Faldo, the Englishman, in 1992, '90 and '87; Sandy Lyle of Scotland in 1985; Tony Jacklin of England in 1969 and Max Faulkner of England in 1951.
Fisher understands what a victory would mean. But it doesn't mean as much as his child.
"No news is good news," he said of the next few hours. "Hopefully she'll be able to hang on another day, and hopefully I can hang on another day."
In his gallery was a man wearing a billed baseball-type hat with a hand-painted message: "Hold on Mrs. Fisher."
Mr. Fisher has figured out the closing holes of this course hard by the Firth of Clyde. He birdied 16-17-18 on Thursday, 16 on Friday and then 16 and 17 on Saturday.
"Not bad," mused Fisher, a classic English understatement.
Then, egged on, he continued.
"I don't know what it is," he said, "but 16 [a 455-yard par-4 with an approach shot over a burn, or stream] I birdied every day. Seventeen [a downwind par-5] is probably one of the easier holes, and if you don't make birdie, you feel like you've slipped a shot."
Fisher said he likes links courses, having competed on them as an amateur, but in his only two British Opens, he missed the cut at Carnoustie in 2007 and finished 39th a year ago at Royal Birkdale.
And his European Tour record this year isn't terribly impressive. In 19 events, he has missed 10 cuts, including six in succession at one stretch.
Yet he is 21st in the world rankings, having won last year's European Open and this year making the semifinals of the Accenture World Match Play in Marana, Ariz.
"I feel quite prepared to play," Fisher said. "I probably haven't got the experience as to the likes of Tom [Watson], you know. He's been playing this golf for quite a few years."
Another understatement. Watson has been playing links golf since before Ross Fisher was born and has won the Open five times, going back to 1975.
Whether Watson or Fisher is a bigger surprise is anyone's guess. One is two months from his 60th birthday. The other is only in his third year as a touring pro.
"Tom is similar to my story," Fisher said. "It's a bit of a Cinderella story. To be playing as well as he is at age 59, I mean, it's incredible. He won here, what, 32 years ago? So I'm sure there will be a lot of followers out there rooting for Tom.
"But I had my fair share today. It was wonderful to hear the reception, up to every tee, up to every green. Hopefully I can play good [Sunday] and it will be for a win. If not, to push Tom and just put in a good performance."
While Jo Fisher waits a few hours longer for her own special performance.
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