Heartbreak at Turnberry as Watson Wilts

TURNBERRY, Scotland -- Painful. Just painful. We know that sports can be cruel, but that was about as bad as it gets.

Tom Watson, 59 years old, was trying to make history at the British Open. Fifty-nine-year-olds do not do this. He talked about love of golf in Britain, where the ghosts are. He was emotional all week, and we kept waiting for the collapse, the nerves, the problems. And they never came.

So it got down to the last hole, and all he had to do was make a par. Then, well, you can guess. The old fogey almost did it. That's what Watson said the headline should be. He's right, I guess. This is what it's like when the big moment doesn't happen. The winner of the British Open is ...

Not Watson.

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It was Stewart Cink, an American winning his first major. The bad guy in white pants. In fact, it was a touching moment for Cink, who said that no one even included him in the discussions about the best player never to win a major. So he was believing he didn't belong. And here he was. Winning a major. In a four-hole playoff. Against one of golf's legends.

Cink and Watson finished regulation at 2-under par, then Watson fell apart in the playoff.

"This ain't a funeral, you know," Watson said.

Think again. You should have heard Turnberry during that playoff, when it was clear that Watson was done. The players were at the 17th hole, and the P.A. guy at 18 was pleading with fans. Show respect to both players when they get there. Realize this is a big moment for Cink. Nothing. Morgue. The big moment wasn't happening.

Watson fired imaginations all week. He was a story about getting another chance. Missed the moment of glory you were expecting? Well, how about trying again? These old-guy athlete stories always do that, like when George Foreman won the heavyweight title, and Jack Nicklaus won the Masters.

They were in their mid-40s, though. Kids next to Watson. And the expanding-waistline, receding hairline crowd gets a rallying point. Are you sure your time is done? What closet holds that racquet, glove or ball? Imagine the courage it would take to try again.

Watson stood there on that stage again, risking a comfortable legacy. When Cink came up 18, he did receive polite applause. Watson then walked up the middle of the fairway with his hands clasped behind his back, a grin pasted on his face hiding reality, and everyone went nuts.

A few minutes later, Watson sank his last putt, held his arms out to his side, and just shrugged. He had given his best. I could only imagine what Watson was going through a few minutes later, waiting for the post-tournament ceremony, grin still pasted on, nearly running into the guy holding the champion's Claret Jug. Watson looked for a second, then moved on, while Cink walked past, telling a reporter: "It's almost indescribable."

"It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn't it?" Watson said. "Yes, 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 painful part isn't in the near-miss, but in the truth. Watson blew this. We spent four days wondering if he could really keep his nerve. He had lost it 25 years ago with his putting. And then, just when you started to believe ...

On the last hole in regulation, he was just off the green, needing a two-putt to win. He had been hitting putts short all day, out of nervousness. And this time? He rammed it eight feet past the hole. So he stood over that 8-foot putt for the championship, the kind of putt he had made all week. The kind he had missed for the past quarter-century.

And it never came close.

"I just got a little too thoughtful about the shot, thinking that it was going to be a little slow," he said. "It would have been a special memory. Now ..."

Watson had everyone buzzing for four days. Seven weeks from turning 60, he saved the tournament, as Tiger Woods failed to survive the cut. But frankly, Watson has had his time. He won eight majors, including five British Opens. Nothing changes for him, and he had another moment.

Meanwhile, Cink, 36, who had gone 0-for-54 in majors, now has a moment, too.

"I did not feel nervousness today," he said. "Somebody at a major championship always has that calm peace."

Yes, it was Cink and a 59-year-old until the last hole. That doesn't say much for golf's younger generation. Woods was out. Phil Mickelson stayed home to take care of his sick wife. And you wouldn't think that should open things up for a guy who just had his hip replaced.

"I'm glad this happened," Watson said. "It was fun to be in the mix of it again. It reminds me of what it was like when you played the big tour, played the kids' tour and were in contention all the time, and the responsibilities that you have to take care of business.

"My hat goes off to Tiger for what he has to go through on a weekly basis, with all the things pulling at him."

He started the week talking about the good old days and finished with the old fire. Watson was relevant again.

"The dream almost came true," he said. Well, it did for Cink.

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