The inkslingers earned their money today. Not an easy to tournament to summarize so soon after it happened, but they managed anyway. A few ledes:
Bill Elliott for the Irish Times:
HE WAS the plot and the subplot, the whole 7,204 yards of this final round. And then some. But Tom Watson, 47 days short of his 60th birthday, also ended up just one weak putt short of the greatest victory the game has witnessed.
James Corrigan for the Independent:
Stewart Cink broke the heart of Tom Watson – not to mention the entirety of the watching sporting world – here last night when denying the 59-year-old in a play-off for the 138th Open Championship.
Mike Aitken in The Scotsman:
IT PROMISED to be the most extraordinary story written in golf since the Open began up the road from the Ailsa at Prestwick all of 149 years ago. Tom Watson, 59 years young, faced an eight-foot putt on the 72nd hole at Turnberry to win his sixth Open title.
Instead, he left it short and wide and opened the door for Stewart Cink, the unassuming American Ryder Cup player, to win the 138th staging of the oldest major thanks to an unflinching display in a four-hole play-off.
Lawrence Donegan in The Guardian:
History faltered at Turnberry today when Tom Watson, bidding to become oldest man (and the first with a hip replacement) to win one of golf's major championships, was finally vanquished by his countryman Stewart Cink at the 2009 Open Championship.
Doug Ferguson for AP:
Tom Watson stood over an 8-foot par putt Sunday evening on the final hole of a mystical British Open, one stroke away from becoming the oldest major champion in history. For the first time all week, he showed his 59-year-old nerves.
The putt never had a chance.
A little more than an hour later, neither did Watson.
Larry Dorman in the New York Times:
Not the onrush of history, not the seeming preordination of the champion, not the brutal crosswind off the firth or crowds of thousands of Scots who roared almost exclusively for his astounding 59-year-old opponent could stop Stewart Cink from winning the 138th British Open on Sunday.
Nick Pearce in the Telegraph goes with a Shrek reference:
Stewart Cink beat Tom Watson in a play-off to win the 138th Open at Turnberry and complete his maiden major victory.
Like the giant ogre in a children's scare story Cink stomped all over this Open Championship and crushed our dreams. The big American beat the heroic Watson in a play-off on a day when three different Englishmen had led at various times in the afternoon. Poor Cink, a more than decent American golfer, has just become the biggest villain in Open history.
But my favorite, from Karl MacGinty in the Belfast Telegraph:
It has to be the biggest anti-climax in golfing history — like Neil Armstrong falling down the steps of the lunar module and breaking his leg.
Interviews And Stats
Tom Watson
Stewart Cink
The hole-by-hole scoring averages the week, minus the final scoring average because who would want to know that?
Stewart Cink, Champion Golfer Of The Year
Damon Hack at golf.com:
Cink realized quickly that he would not be the crowd favorite in the playoff. Afterward, he said he was familiar with the role.
"I've played plenty of times with Tiger and hear the Tiger roars and Mickelson," said Cink, who closed with a final-round 69. "I'm usually the guy that the crowd [appreciates], but they're not behind me 100 percent of the way.
"I feel like whether Tom was 59 or 29, he was one of the field, and I had to play against everybody in the field, and the course, to come out on top."
Bob Harig opens with how Cink's win will always be linked more with Watson than anything else:
One of golf's truly great guys turned out to be the bad guy.
John Hopkins in The Times:
Even in victory, Cink seemed to be the loser. Even when he cradles the famous old trophy he will know that he won it from under the nose of the one man whom almost everyone here wanted to win.
“That’s all right” he said later. “I knew what to expect. I had played with Lee on Saturday and the crowds cheered for him, quite rightly. I am often the guy the crowds appreciate but are not 100 per cent behind.”
Lynne Truss wrote in Saturday's edition of the Times (thanks to reader Cardinal for catching this):
but I tell you, until Tom Watson started his charge late on Friday afternoon, I had never been less moved by the golf in a major championship.
At one point I was so desperate that, like an old cracked record, I resorted to drawing my colleagues’ attention to the presence of Stewart Cink on the leaderboard. “See?” I said. Well, I got what I deserved.
“You’re not going on about Cink again?” they said, in disbelief. “We know he’s good, but he’s never going to win. Not now. Not ever. Never.”
I'm guessing that colleague has heard a thing or two from her since.
Our Dear Watson
Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail:
In the packed grandstands, people who never go to church from one year to the next clasped their hands in fervent prayer. Then he woke up. We woke up.
His first putt travelled eight feet past. In the scoring area, Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher forgot their own disappointment at failing to win to watch a television monitor.
'Get in!' they urged, but the putt never looked close to the line history intended. It dribbled miserably to the right, and the sense of deflation was overwhelming.
James Lawton for the Independent:
It was the privilege of being around Tom Watson when he not only played some of the most brilliant golf of his life but also defined himself.
It was how it is when you know you have touched something that will always shine like gold.
Long before the moment of decision came, with such awful finality, Watson's achievement was beyond any analysis of pro and con, any feeble attempt to measure the demands of one sports discipline against another.
It was simply to create the greatest, most compelling, and ultimately the most poignant story in the history of any sport you care to name.
Alan Pattullo in The Scotsman:
Just who was this man hirpling again down the 18th, roared to the rafters, though with head this time bowed? It was the kid from Kansas City, freeman of Turnberry, Maidens and every damn cluster of houses in Ayrshire. Forget Colin Montgomerie, Sandy Lyle and unseemly, petty spats. Here is Scotland's finest, here is her adopted son. The fans saluted him in the way he deserved, but Watson, ever alert to golf's etiquette, hung back, allowing Cink his moment in the sun. "We love you Tom!" someone blurted. Before long, more had joined in with their declarations of affection. A terrace favourite was then struck up. All were living in a Watson Wonderland.
Thomas Bonk for GolfDigest.com:
In the end, the numbers were simply too highly stacked against him. If Watson wasn't the longest of shots, he was close. The day before the tournament began, the local odds makers listed him at 250-1.
But Watson evidently changed some minds ... his odds went down to 100-1 after Thursday, then 40-1 after Friday and 7-1 after Saturday.
What do bookmakers know anyway?
After all, Watson was ranked 1,274th last Monday. He would have been ranked 45th on Monday if he had won.
Alan Fraser for the Daily Mail:
But the thing about this past week has been the number of young people who have been rooting for Tom Watson. At times, it was like Tom Jones at Glastonbury. The young ones were rocking with Watson, all of them not even born when he was in his pomp.
They did not throw their underwear at him yesterday but they stuck their hands out hoping for a high five as the walked through the funnel on to the first tee to the first of many ovations.
Steve Elling shares this from Tony Jacklin:
"Nobody said it, but in my opinion, had he won, it would have been the greatest single feat in golf history," said Tony Jacklin, who like Watson is a Hall of Famer himself. "The greatest single feat for sure. I know accumulating 18 majors is a different kind of accomplishment, but for a 59-year-old veteran, had he won, there is nothing else.
"Trust me, 46 is a hell of a lot different that 59, and anybody over 50 knows that. I feel it every day. It was staggering the way he stood up right to the end."
Jeff Neuman wonders about the quality of players today.
The only player in contention on Sunday who looked like he knew how to win a major was Watson, right up until his 277th stroke of the tournament on the final green.
Cameron Morfit for golf.com (including confirmation that that was indeed Tom Lehman behind the ropes out on 13 tee watching Watson).
There were competing theories about the significance of a Watson victory. He would become the oldest to win a major by 11 years, which was amazing, but on the other hand it might reflect badly on the sport, or the rest of professional golf, that a man just two months shy of 60 could prevail.
"This will be the worst thing that could happen to golf," a scribe said.
"It'll be the best thing that could happen to golf," replied another.
John Hopkins addresses this point and notes the cerebral quality of golf is what makes it unique, especially when a geezer nearly wins.
And on that point, it pains me, but we do have to note a serious strategic mistake by Watson on 18 to play at the hole, as Alan Shipnuck notes in the SI Confidential:
Here in the Turnberry press room everyone is still buzzing about Watson's shot into 18 in regulation. He did pure it, but it took a hard bounce and trickled over the back. He later admitted he was between an 8-iron and a 9 and he chose the 8, even straight downwind and with all that adrenaline. I was standing next to the green for the last couple of groups and all the balls were taking big bounces. You'd think that after all these years Watson would've known to hit the 9. Better to be a little short with a 30 foot putt than long to a back flag. It was a rookie mistake that ultimately cost him the Open.
Finally, Graham Spiers on Watson's bagman, 58-year old Neil Oxman and the political discussions they have.
The Other Broken-Hearted
Marvin Collins on Lee Westwood's roller coaster ride finish.
His tee shot at 18 found the left fairway bunker but he still produced a remarkable recovery – "a great shot," said Westwood later – to the front right of the green to set up that unlikely long-range birdie attempt which he felt he had to make to keep his hopes alive.
Westwood admitted he thought he had hit a decent shot on 18 and had no idea his second shot would be from sand. "I thought it had gone down the fairway and missed the trap but it must have curled round and gone in," he said. "I hit a great shot out of the trap but didn't finish it off."
And this from the SI Confidential:
Hack: Lee Westwood is Stewart Cink, circa 2001.
Herre: Westwood blew it on 18 by rushing his final putt, thinking he was out of it, just like Cink did at Southern Hills.
Shipnuck: I was in the Winged Foot locker room with Phil and in the Augusta parking lot with Kenny Perry, and I've never seen anyone as gutted as Westwood was Sunday. He wandered around the locker room in a daze, at one point standing in front of a fridge for 15 seconds or so, staring at all the free drinks. Then he walked away without taking one. There were a half dozen players and caddies in there at the same time and it was dead silent and unbelievably awkward. When I left, Westwood was laying on a bench, rubbing his face over and over, trying to take deep breaths.
Kevin Ferrie on the dashed hopes of Oliver Fisher and Westwood:
Yet like Neil Coles and Tommy Horton, who always seemed to be in the running at some stage of Open Championships in the 70s, none but the unloved and unappreciated Faldo has managed to see it through.
While in this the home of golf, there is endless agonising over the lack of Scottish success on the world stage in some ways it seems even more curious that no other Major winner has emerged from among the ranks of so many gifted young millionaires.
Then again perhaps - as some suspected with Tim Henman in tennis - that such a comfortable existence can be had without the need for doing what is needed to bring home the biggest prizes is at least one part of the problem.
And Alan Pattullo on barely 16-year old Masseo Manassero's epic week
Turnberry Wins!
Mike Aitken says Turnberry presents "a model course," which seems a tad much.
Bearing in mind how Turnberry was burdened with a reputation as a bit of a soft touch, the fact only a handful of players were under par going into yesterday's final round and Tiger Woods, the world No1, missed the cut in the oldest major for the first time, said all that was required about the severity of the examination.
Oh joy, it was hard so it must be great!
Miscellany
Michael Hiestand isn't very high on ESPN on ABC via BBC's coverage.
Dick Friedman rates the broadcast team and says Alliss again stole the show in his limited time on air while Martin Kelner reviews Alliss' BBC work and wonders about his obsession with Pavarotti.
And this note from Paul Gallagher about the R&A faux lockers probably won't come as a shock:
All week the BBC has been telling us, “Let’s go over to the clubhouse locker-room where Hazel (Irvine) is with . . .”. But Auntie hasn’t exactly been straight with the viewers.
The BBC’s post-round interview area has the look of an upmarket locker-room, with rich, mahogany- like lockers and the RA logo visible on each of the locker doors.
We’ve since found out the supposed locker-room is a set in a portakabin just beyond the mixed zone behind the 18th grandstand.
Alan Fraser just loved the BBC's coverage and reports all sorts of fun stuff, including a drinking game that developed. His lede ought to hook you:
Joining the list of things you thought you would never hear on a prime-time BBC 1 sports programme, the following from Andrew Cotter.
‘It’s all about Matt Goggin.’
Just the sort of dramatic commentary destined to send an audience scurrying to The History Channel and an in-depth study of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95).
Mark Soltau compiles the quotes of the day while Johnson/Weinman pick out birdies and bogeys, including a thumbs for the R&A saying they may review their age 60 limit for past champions.
Though Ewan Murray talks to Peter Dawson about the rule and it's hard to be enthusiastic that it'll get bumped back to 65.
And this press room temperature gauge from Damon Hack at golf.com:
Damon Hack: I can honestly say that I've never seen a press corps undergo the mood swing it did from the moment Watson's ball was in the air on the 18th hole to when it landed. As writers, we root for the story, and a Watson win would have transcended golf and made for one joyride of a Sunday-night write. Who knows when this opportunity will ever come again.
Doug Ferguson with notes on Padraig, Chris Wood, exemptions and more.
And finally, my favorite from Jenkins' final day of Tweeting:
