A most common battle

A reprint of my SlapShots column from the July 23 Sun.

“It would have been a hell of a story.”

I turned the TV on just in time to watch the plot unravel.

Tom Watson missed an 8-foot putt on the 18th hole that would have clinched the British Open championship. Had that putt found the cup, the 59-year-old would have become the oldest player to ever win a major championship. But the ball stopped short and the dream evaporated moments before the happy ending.

“It was almost – the dream almost came true,” he said.

Watson’s age seem to catch up with him on that last hole and through the playoff.

“Those last 30 minutes, he aged about 30 years,” ESPN analyst Rick Reilly said.

After missing the putt that would have won him the championship, Watson fell apart in the playoff. He looked old and tired as his drive failed him, leaving him in the rough on the second playoff hole. He worked out of it to save par, but he found the rough again on 17 (the third playoff hole) and couldn’t recover. Stewart Cink played a mistake free playoff and walked away with the Claret Jug for his first major win.

But the spotlight eluded the winner.

I have to admit, I felt sorry for Cink. After sinking a 12-foot birdie on 18 to put him in position for the tie, Cink played superbly through the four playoff holes, but nobody really cared. All eyes focused on Watson. The disappointment in the gallery seemed like a physically tangible entitiy on the final hole, as if the fans could actually reach out and touch it.

But nobody left Turnberry more disappointed than Watson.

He wasn’t just there to be there – he was playing to win.

“It tears at your gut, just like it’s always torn at my gut,” he said.

While his strength and stamina may have diminished over the years, Watson’s desire to compete and win remains strong.

When Watson won the last of his eight major championships, I was a junior in high school. In the 1983 British Open, Watson nailed his drive, putting the ball 15 feet from the hole on the 18th to set up an easy two putt to take home the Jug. To nearly replicate that feat 26 years later amazes.

What really impressed me about Watson’s 2009 Open run was that he wasn’t willing to settle for a moral victory. He was competing to win. That is after all why we compete. Watson could easily use his age as an excuse. But he didn’t. He thought he could win. He expected to win. And his disappointment testifies to that competitive fire that made him so great in his heyday.

But as with all of us, no matter how hard we battle, age eventually works us over. A reporter asked Watson if fatigue factored in his poor playoff performance. Did he run out of gas?

“It looked like it, didn’t it?” he said. “It didn’t feel like it, but it looked like it.”

Boy, can I relate.

I think that’s what captivated me about Watson’s Open performance. I saw in Watson my own battle against the ever-encroaching menace of age. I know how it feels when the mind wills a performances the body can’t quite deliver. I’ve momentarily overcome my own aging physique, playing as well as I did in my 20s - only to fall just short. And I’ve felt the sting of disappointment. That’s one thing that age doesn’t diminish.

As time passes, Watson will look back on the 2009 British Open with pride. He’ll recognize his amazing achievement and he’ll bask in the pride of knowing he competed at the highest level while approaching senior status.

But today, there’s just disappointment – and probably some pretty sore muscles.

I understand Tom. I understand.

Quick Shots

Some commentators complained that Tom Watson’s British Open run somehow diminished the game of golf. They said that if a 59-year-old could play with the best in the world – even for a week, it doesn’t say much about the sport. They worried that Watson’s performance would hurt the game. I disagree. Until Sunday, I had never watched more than five minutes of any golf match. Yet I remained glued to the TV for two hours as the drama of the final day at the Open unfolded. Good stories create new fans. Who could write a better storyline for the 2009 Open?

Age may well finally overtake another old-timer. Lance Armstrong faded in the first Tour de France leg in the Alps, as teammate Alberto Contador took the yellow jersey. It’s becoming clear that Armstrong will not win his eighth Tour championship. He’s accepting the role as “support rider” for Contador. But even in defeat, Armstrong continues to show the class that makes him a true champion. “A day like this really shows who’s the best, and I wasn’t on par with what is required to win the Tour. That’s the reality; that’s not devastating news or anything,” he said. “I gave it everything that I had, and I wasn’t the best.”

Jody Meeks made a quite an impression during NBA Summer League games for the Milwaukee Bucks. The former Wildcat averaged a team-high 19 points through five games. In averaging 32 minutes per game, Meeks shot 56 percent from the field, 53 percent from three-point range and 82 percent from the free-throw line. He was playing against other rookies, but his performance may indicate Meeks made the right decision in moving on to the NBA.

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Quote of the Week

“Thank you for a one week break from the Tiger Woods era”
-From an ABC thank you segment on Tom Watson after the British Open

Puck to the head

This week’s puck flies at the head of Antoine Walker. The former University of Kentucky and current NBA basketball player was arrested July 15, a day after a warrant was issued for three felony counts of writing bad checks. Walker allegedly amassed $822,500 in gambling debts. Police arrested the forward at Harrah’s Casino in South Lake Tahoe. Are you kidding me? They arrested a man with over $822,000 in gambling debts in a casino? No – he doesn’t have a problem.