Tom Watson - sports is also for the young at heart

The British Open golf championship has produced several dramatic final round melt-downs. The two that stand out from recent history are:

Frenchman Jean Van de Velde's disastrous triple bogey on the final hole at Carnoustie in 1999 to hand the title to a relatively unknown Paul Lawrie.

Dane Thomas Bjorn needlessly attacked the pin at the 16th hole at Royal St George in 2003, leaving himself stranded in a deep greenside bunker from where he failed to get out in his first two attempts. The eventual winner, American Ben Curtis, was unknown even in his home country!

Stewart Cink, this year's Open winner, is better known and definitely a more consistent player than either Lawrie or Curtis. It wasn't just Tom Watson's missed 8 footer that enabled him to win. He applied the heat on his older countryman when he courageously birdied the 72nd hole to become the leader in the clubhouse. Lee Westwood should have learned a lesson or two from that.

I still can't get over the off-the-green putt that Watson knocked 8 feet past the pin. Was it bad luck that the perfectly struck rescue approach didn't stop on the green? I think it was Nicklaus, who famously said: There is no good luck or bad luck in golf, just good shots and bad shots.

Putting from the fringe is always dicey if the ball has nestled down in the grass. Solid contact isn't possible. More often than not, the ball will jump up and roll farther than you intended. The two shot swing on the 72nd hole sealed Watson's fate.

Under pressure of defending a final round lead, adrenaline plays a negative role. Where calmness and deliberation is required, one ends up rushing and making a jerky swing. Padraig Harrington's pitch from behind the 16th green squirting into the water under pressure from Tiger's fantastic birdie at the Bridgestone Open at Akron, Ohio is the most recent example.

To be leading a Major Championship at age 59, till the final stroke on the 72nd hole, was an achievement that warmed the cockles of the heart of every elderly person who has ever played any competitive sport. Even for youngsters, it was an example of what a combination of skill and will power can achieve.

Why didn't Tom Watson win? Why couldn't he become a 'Cinderella Man'? Because that is life. Some times, dreams do come true - just look at it from Stewart Cink's perspective!

(Note: Another Tom has written an excellent piece about the tragic end to Watson's run at becoming the oldest person to ever win a Major championship. Read it here.)

The 'other' Singh

For the first time in the long history of Major championships, an Indian golfer led the field after the first round of the PGA Championship. He held the lead jointly over the best of the best (minus one!).

After a second round 74 - the worst by any player in the top 20 of the leaderboard - Chiranjeev 'Milkha' Singh was still tied seventh with the likes of Sergio Garcia and Angel Cabrera (who won the US Open last year). Only two former major winners are ahead on the leaderboard - Ben Curtis and David Toms. Only 4 shots separate the top 20 players - so this PGA is wide open.

All eyes are of course on China and the Olympics opening ceremony was truly magnificient in concept and execution. But for golf enthusiasts, the last major of the year at Oakland Hills, Michigan - which was dubbed "The Monster" by the great Ben Hogan when he won the US Open at the same venue back in 1951 - will provide a lot of thrills and entertainment.

To appreciate how competitive and tough the field of professional golf is, here are some of the former Major winners that missed the cut : Rich Beem, Fred Couples, John Daly, Todd Hamilton, Zach Johnson, Bob Tway, Mark Brooks, Trevor Immelman, Davis Love III, and the 'real' Singh - Vijay.  Other former Major winners like Jim Furyk, Mike Weir, Corey Pavin and Paul Azinger barely made the cut at +8.

'Jeev' played in the Masters this year, made the cut and made some money. He missed the cut in the US Open and made zilch. He narrowly failed to qualify for the British Open. He has made the cut in the PGA and is in the top 10 of the leader board even though he is playing with a bum right ankle.

In between, he has been criss-crossing the world playing on the Asian, the Japanese and the European tours - making his own travel arrangements, adjusting to different time zones, eating unfamiliar food and making no money any time he misses the cut. In spite of such challenges, with his unorthodox swing and exquisite short game, he has already won a tournament each on the Japanese and European tours.

So say a little prayer for 'Jeev'. If he manages to win the PGA with one of his typical come-from-behind 5 under final rounds, he will get some thing like a 10 year exemption on the US PGA tour - the best and biggest pro-golf tour in the world. And his days of cross-continent travelling and living out of suitcases may come to an end.

The case of the missing Cat

After a surfeit of cricket, the rolling greens of the Royal Birkdale provided a pleasant change of scenery. But the driving rain and howling winds were hardly pleasant for some of the biggest stars in professional golf. Singh, Els, Mickelson soared to 79s and 80s.

I've not had the privilege of playing at any of the links courses in the UK. However I still remember an afternoon round at the Shoreline Golf Course in Mountain View, California - next to the rather benign San Francisco Bay. The short par three 3rd (or was it the 4th?) measured 120 yards over water and a green-side bunker.

During my usual morning rounds, I would hit an easy 9 iron to the green. On this particular afternoon, there was a strong headwind from the Bay. After some thinking - and with a fair amount of reluctance - I chose a 4 iron. Barely clearing the water, the ball landed in the small strip of ground short of the green-side bunker!

And that was more like a 25 mph wind - far more playable than the gale-force 40 mph winds over Royal Birkdale. His long experience, and previous wins at the British Open, helped the Shark - looking a bit long in the tooth - to work his way around the course with his meticulous pre-shot routines and dramatic up-and-downs.

But some thing was definitely missing from the whole show. Call it the feline factor. The half-empty stands (or bleachers - as the Americans would call it) and the pitter-patter of polite applause were pale shadows of the 10 deep crowds and thunderous roars at previous Majors.

As Alice would say about the proverbial Cheshire Cat, we have seen the Cat without a grin but never a grin without a Cat. Yes, that was it. That million-dollar smile - usually flashed when he slots an impossible chip from off the green or a downhiller with a double break from 40 feet - was definitely missing.

He did miss the cut at the US Open a couple of years back. Other than that aberration, Tiger has been at every Major championship over the last dozen years, winning 14 of them. That puts him second behind the legendary Jack Nicklaus.

So, for the lesser mortals, the only excitement left is whether Masters 1996 will rear its ugly head again. That was the last time Norman led the field in a Major going into the final round. The fact that he managed to squander a 5 shots lead and lost to Faldo by six shots is probably going through his mind as he prepares for the final round.

For the Shark's sake, let us hope that he pulls himself together one last time to become the oldest person to win a Major.