Tom Watson’s British Open Hopes Dashed!

In what was leading up to be one of the bigger sports stories of 2009, Tom Watson’s near-flawless run at the British Open ended during the final stages of the last round today.  Approaching the 18th hole, Tom Watson only need to hole in an 8-foot putt to seal a 1-shot win over Stewart Cink.  Unfortunately he misread the putt completely and it skipped by the hole!

This would set up a 4-hole playoff between the 59-year old Watson and the much younger and fresher Stewart Cink.  It was playing out to be one of the most dramatic British Open finishes ever – that was until Tom Watson showed his age a bit during the playoff.  His shots seemed to drift off and he was scrambling just to save par on the first few holes against Cink – at one point he look completely fatigued and was showing signs of frustration after he hooked his drive on one of the playoff holes.

On the other hand, Stewart Cink was simple playing perfect golf during his run at the 4 extra holes, finishing off Watson with 2 birdies and no bogeys whatsoever.  As they both approached the final hole one once more (first time was in regulation, the 2nd in the playoff), you could clearly see the sadness in Watson’s eyes, especially since this would be his last British Open ever (Open Rules state that no player 60 years of age or older can compete – unless they win the event on their 59th birthday).  The crowd cheered hard for the elder Watson, as this Links legend tipped his hand one last time to a gallery that seemed very honored and blessed to see someone like him make such a deep run at such a tough tournament.

Congrats to Stewart Cink for a hard-fought victory and for bringing a lot of action to tons of online sports betting sites during this particular event!