Almost One for the Ages

The ultimate long shot almost came through on Sunday, and while it was a heck of a ride and a very entertaining final round, it ended in disappointment, not only for one of the game’s legendary players and gentlemen, but for true golf fans around the world. Three shots away from claiming not only golf but sports history, the nearly 60 year-old Watson hit his approach shot over the green and couldn’t get up and down to save par and the win, and the rest was almost a foregone conclusion.

Tom Watson was my first love in golf, as a young kid in the late 70’s and early 80’s, he was the guy I chose as my favorite player, namely because he was one of the best players in the game at the time and I liked his style and his humility, and because my dad was a huge Jack Nicklaus fan and I wanted someone I could claim as my own. So to see old Tome as the Scottish fans who revere him refer to the unpretentious mid-westerner, compete for one magical weekend brought back memories of the game the way it used to be, the way it was before Tiger came on the scene and brought with him a new power style of grip it and rip it that has come to define the game over the last decade or so.

I heard a radio commentator the other night refer to Watson playing old man’s golf. I would call it just golf, the way the game was meant to be played before the technology of the clubs and the design of the courses gave us the predictable game we have today. Watching guys hit 350 yard drives and 175 yard nine irons into receptive greens is exciting for about fifteen minutes but it gets old quick. It’s the sports equivalent of going to a strip club. It is the main reason I rarely bother to watch a regular tournament anymore, where a bunch of young guns with driver heads bigger than my Yorkie hit bombs and fire birdies and eagles on their way to winning scores of 25 under par.

Tiger has been great for the game in many ways, he has undoubtedly opened the game to a new set of fans and has inspired his competitors to greater heights. He is one of the game’s all time greats, and may very likely become the all-time leader in majors won, although that alone won’t make him the greatest player of all-time, but that is an argument for another day. I enjoy watching Tiger play as much as the next guy, and while I am a Mickelson fan (he’s a fellow ASU alum who matriculated there at the same time as I did) and I have watched and rooted for Lefty since his amateur days, I appreciate and admire Tiger’s greatness and am right there with the rest of the sporting public in front of the tube when he is in contention.

But I am also a fan of the game, and unlike many Tiger fans, I loved the game well before he came on the scene and will appreciate it long after he has faded into the sunset. This past weekend was a refreshing break from the Tiger era, and proved to all of us who love the game more than any one player that a great tournament comes from the setting and the competitive drama as much if not more than the characters. It was a reminder that keeping the ball in the fairway off the tee beats a bomb into the rough, and imagination and creativity are much more sporting than sheer power.

The drama of golf is at its best when the greatest players in the world, with skills the rest of us can only dream of struggle and overcome those struggles, when a guy goes from hero to zero in the span of ten minutes with a snowman that takes him from the lead to off the leader board. It is the most riveting when it is full of ups and downs, triumphs and tribulations, all within the span of a four hour round. And for my money, there is nothing better than links golf, this is the game in its original form as it was invented to be played, on land unsuitable for farming along the British coast.

Old Tom almost closed the deal and almost won one for all the old guys out there, for all of us who despite aching muscles and sore knees and stiff backs, still get out of bed and get in our morning workout, or who put off the comfort of our easy chair and cold bottle of beer for a couple hours after work to get in our afternoon exercise time. Old Tom almost got one for all of us regular guys and gals who go out to our local course every time hoping that maybe the next round will be the one for the ages, the one where we play an entire round the way we are capable usually of playing only for a few holes on a given side, before the Golf Gods get back from break and put us in our rightful place.

It was almost one for the ages, and while we can’t expect Watson to repeat that performance again, it should keep the rest of us coming back for more, because the promise of watching golf, as it is for all sports, is that just like Forest Gump and his box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. I’d say this past weekend golf and sports fans got more than we bargained for, and short of the hoped for storybook ending, that will have to be enough, at least for now.