“Hooks and Slices” will bring you our view on whats happening in the golf world.
You have to love Stewart Cink as he made the trip to NYC for Letterman’s Top Ten List. They both were great but the funniest guy on late night TV is Craig Fergurson.
by Jeff Skinner
Forgive me, but I’m still drunk from The Open and the latest vintage of Tom Watson’s golf game. I guess I’m not the only one either as the web, papers and television are still filled with pieces on Watson and Stewart Cink. Cink is a deserved champion, but Tom Watson was, and still is the story. Watson has said that he is still smarting from The Open but thousands of e-mails he has received, particularly those from servicemen, have helped him realize again, that golf is not life. Golf is still just a game. Watson appeared to all of us as a humble, ordinary guy with extraordinary golf skills. After The Open on Sunday, he didn’t sulk or hide out in his suite at the Turnberry Hotel that is named after him for his win in 1977. He took his wife for a meal at a family restaurant in town and was as accommodating as he could be. He signed autographs, posed for pictures and visited with all the staff at the restaurant. Would you expect anything else from him?
Watson’s performance at The Open has rekindled the debate on which generation of golfers was better: Today’s group led by Tiger or the 70’s and 80’s group led by Nicklaus. Jaime Diaz explores the question in Golf World. He raises the point that Tiger may not have the same level of competition that Jack did. Diaz writes:
“The argument goes that Woods has it easier than Nicklaus did when it comes to racking up majors,
because of the greater number of proven winners and presumably tougher, hungrier and more well-rounded competitors that the Golden Bear faced. For all their vaunted depth, today’s players, the theory goes, suffer from a general decadence: too much prize money lowering the urgency to win; too few moments atop leader boards leaving them relatively callow under pressure; and too many equipment advances that keep increasing distance, accuracy and spin while lulling them into a one-dimensional style of power golf that is ill-suited to the demands of major championships, particularly those played on a links.”
For my money there isn’t any group that compares to Jack, Trevino, Miller and Watson. Maybe I’ll feel differently in a few years if some of these current players step up and become multiple major winners and take a certain golfer down on a Sunday or two. But for now, Jack and the boys rule.
by Jeff Skinner
As Tom Watson prepares to compete in the upcoming Senior Open Championship this week, his performance at The Open has prompted much debate on a few subjects. It appears that the R and A is going to revisit the age limit of sixty years old to play in The Open. Currently, past champions of The Open can play until they are sixty. The R and A has to be able to come up with some format that allows a player like Watson that almost won the darn thing to still compete for a few more years. There is some discussion as to whether Watson’s accomplishment was heroic or embarrassing. Some are saying that Watson’s failure to close the deal and win The Open was his worst major ever. There is even debate that calls into question the legitimacy of golf as a sport. How can a fifty nine year old man beat men that are much younger and more fit? They are all missing the true significance of Watson’s tremendous play.
On Sunday morning the media was prepared to call a Watson victory the greatest win ever at a major
championship. Watson, already one of the greatest players ever, was to be labeled an even greater player, if that was possible. This was to be one of the greatest feats in sport. When Watson stumbled on eighteen with an aggressive first putt followed by a weak par putt the magic disappeared from his hands. He was no longer the golfer that knew he could win this thing, as he had said. He was now the golfer that lost The Open. The playoff added insult to injury. Tom had spent himself over the last eighteen holes and Stewart Cink played excellent golf to take the Claret Jug in the playoff.
All this was already academic in my opinion. Sure, I was pulling for Watson as much as anyone. Millions of fans were hoping he would get it done. But, the fact that he missed a putt or pulled an iron or came up short does not detract from the astonishing week that Watson gave us. Why do we need to label it as the greatest this, or the worst that. The fact remains: a gifted fifty nine year old past champion played well enough to win the oldest major championship in golf. He did something that no man had ever done before. He did it with dignity and class. He was generous and courteous to his playing partners, the press and the fans. He wanted it, he said so. He’s a competitor. He was as disappointed as a golfer could be afterward, but Watson knows that golf is a game. He put himself in a position to win and in his words “I didn’t get it done.” Believe it or not that’s all right. Golf goes on, life goes on, and Watson’s life goes on. Contrary to those that say Watson’s loss detracts from his status as one of golf’s great players, I say his performance enhances his rank as one of the greatest of all time. He did what many said was not possible and he did it with a grace, charm and spirituality that few men have. Watson displayed sportsmanship and character during a difficult time. But that is what we have seen from Watson for years. His performance this past week was legendary, and he remains one of the legends of the game.
Great news for golf as Phil Mickelson announced that he will be playing in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational next week. The fact that Phil feels comfortable enough to leave his wife and mom as they are treated for breast cancer is a good sign. The good news here is that Phil is back. The great news is that Amy and Mary Mickelson must be doing well. It makes sense that Phil will also compete in the PGA Championship the following week and that sets up some exciting golf. Phil and Tiger should both be in the WGC and The PGA, giving us two weeks of the biggest players in the game. These past months golf hasn’t been a high priority for Phil. Hopefully, this is a sign that his and Amy’s life are getting back to some sense of normalcy. Amy and Phil have always tried to give back to their community and are very active with their foundation. Check out the video on their foundation. Phil and Amy are the highest profile couple on the PGA Tour and it is easy to see why there are loved so much.
by Jeff Skinner
When the 138th Open Championship started on last Thursday there were high expectations that this would be a memorable tournament. The favorite as always was Tiger Woods and there was plenty of speculation on who would contend. The prognosticators had the names of dozens of golfers that could be the one to take home the Claret Jug: Westwood, Casey, Garcia, Mahan, Furyk, Goosen, McIlroy, Poulter, Villagas, Stricker, Perry all were listed as possible winners. In addition to those there were the players that had their own special stories that made then news worthy; John Daly, David Duval, Adam Scott, Paddy Harrington and Greg Norman. There was much anticipation that Norman would be the “senior” golfer that makes some noise, based on his play last year. There was a lot of talk about Tom Watson also, but only in reference to his epic battle with Jack Nicklaus in the famous “Duel in the Sun” way back in 1977 at the host Turnberry course. Norman was supposed to be the player that showed that older golfers can still compete with the young guys on occasion. As they say in sport, “That is why the play the game.” After they played two rounds of the Open many of those names were long gone having failed to make the cut, including Woods and Norman. In Norman’s stead was fifty nine year old Tom Watson. Watson, a five time Open Champion and eight time major winner had made a deal with the devil or the golfing gods and was leading the tournament. Watson is a special player. He came to love playing links courses as a young man and developed into the best links player of modern golf. But, could Watson really compete with these younger, stronger golfers?
One must understand the heart that is within this man. He was not playing at Turnberry as a
“ceremonial golfer” without any chance to win. He was not playing in this Championship to commemorate the Duel in the Sun. He was playing here as he does every time he tees it up, he was playing to win. His first three rounds were full of magic and excitement and had the golfing world shaking its collective head. His opening round was a bogey free 65 and many thought how great it was to have a legend play so well. During his second round he had five bogeys in six holes on his front nine and could have folded then but he didn’t. He was able to settle himself and salvaged his round with three birdies on the back and ended with a par round. He was still hanging around, but many thought he would fade soon enough. In difficult conditions in round three, where bogeys outnumbered birdies Watson found magic on the back nine with birdies on both sixteen and seventeen to take the 54 hole lead in the tournament. He set the record for the oldest 54 hole leader in a major championship.
All during the tournament Watson was speaking in terms of spirituality and serenity and how special it was out there all the time. We all felt the same way. There was going to be a supernatural conclusion to this tournament. This was going to be Watson’s biggest win ever. This was destined to be the greatest win in major championship history.
Watson started the final round poorly with a bogey on number one. While he was making a par on the second hole, Ross Fisher made his second birdie of the day and Watson was out of the lead. After Watson made three straight pars he finally got on the board with a birdie on seven but Lee Westwood had just eagled seven right before him to go to -4 and a one stroke lead on Watson. After Watson’s approach on nine was short of the green he carded another bogey to fall to -3. At the same time Westwood bogeyed ten to go to -3. Watson finally found some magic with his putter on eleven and sank a long birdie putt to tie Westwood and Mathew Goggin who had climbed to -3 also. For awhile it looked like a new Duel in the Sun with Westwood and Watson going at it, only in different pairings. They stayed even with each other over four holes, but when Westwood went bogey, bogey on fifteen and sixteen he fell one back of Watson. Watson was on the seventeenth tee when at -2 and in the lead but Stewart Cink sank a clutch birdie putt on eighteen to go to -2. Shortly, Westwood would bogey eighteen to fall to -1. There was no worry in Tom Watson, there was no panic. He knew that seventeen was a birdie hole and when his eagle putt from the fringe didn’t fall he tapped in for birdie and a one stroke lead at -3 with one hole to play. There was no one left on the course to challenge him. Cink was done and waiting at two under. Watson needed only a par to complete the most amazing championship win in history. Watson had good success on eighteen with two pars and a birdie over the first three rounds. It appeared to be no different here when he placed his tee ball in the middle of the fairway. You could feel the excitement and the passion that was brewing. The crowd had been Tom’s crowd all week and here was their hero looking at the greatest win ever. He choose to hit an eight iron from 187 yards with a strong helping wind and he hit it flush. His ball hit a few feet short of the pin and rolled off the back of the green and rested against the beginning of the rough. He had carried his shot just a little too far on the green. Still he only needed to get up and down for par and he would join Harry Vardon as the only six time winners of The Open. This was an easy task for Watson. In his prime he was a master of the up and down. He even titled one of his instruction books “Getting Up and Down” by Tom Watson. Instead of chipping Watson took his putter from his bag and many hard core Watson fans were surprised. His shot from the edge of the rough was mediocre at best and rolled well past the hole. He now needed to sink this putt for par to avoid a playoff with Cink. Watson had found magic all week, but this time there was no magic in his short stick. His putt was weak and right and as the ball turned away from the hole all the magic and spirit and luck that had carried Watson all week melted away. It was his worst putt of the week and the tournament was done. Sure, he still had a four hole playoff with Cink to try and reclaim what he had just squandered away, but at that point Watson had no more to give. He was spent, he was done, there was nothing left. There was no adrenaline left, no energy, no spirit, and no serenity.
Cink won the playoff playing excellent golf with two birdies while Watson could barely get the ball onto the green. He was a courageous player that had nothing left to give and Stewart Cink was the Champion Golfer of the Year. Stewart Cink played well on Sunday. Players will tell you that in a major the plan is to put yourself in position on Sunday. Cink did just that and reaped the rewards. He will be heralded as the 2009 Open Champion and that is rightly so, but this open was all about Tom Watson.
Afterward, Watson was open and honest in his assessment of his play. As the media sat silently before the start of his press conference he said to them,”Hey, this ain’t a funeral you know.” After a chuckle he went on, “It would have been a hell of a story, but it wasn’t to be.” “It tears at my gut… it is a disappointment.” Asked what he would take away from this Watson said, “A lot of warmth and a lot of spirituality.” He said “it was fun to be in the mix again…having kids that are my kid’s age look up at me and say wow.” He was asked what he thought his peers would say about him and he said, “I’d like to think that my peers would say he was a hell of a golfer.”
Watson entered this Open with two people thinking he could contend: himself and his wife. He battled a tough course, a course he knows better than most professionals, and was on the verge of the greatest win in golfing history. All the while he displayed the class, sportsmanship and dignity that has made him one of the most revered and respected players in golf. There is no one like Tom Watson left in the game today. He is our connection back to the golden days of Arnie, Jack, Player and Watson. These men were some of the best players and the greatest sportsman that this game has seen. It is difficult to let these men go, that is why all of us wanted Watson to do it. We wanted another legend holding the Claret Jug to his lips in victory. We wanted another chance to relive our past, a past that has been made so glorious by men like Tom Watson. He may not be the Champion Golfer of the Year, but he’s Tom Watson, a legend and one hell of a golfer.
The greatest day in the history came up one shot short. The world of golf was ready for one of the most amazing accomplishments in sports history when Tom Watson teed off this morning tied for the lead in the 138th Open Championship. Watson had given us a wild ride all week and it appeared that he could win, that he could do what no other man close to his age could even think of: win a major at fifty nine years old. Watson had spoken of how serene he felt all week and how there was something spiritual going on out there this week. He was right. How else can you explain the fact that a man a few months from sixty could compete with men half his age. It was his tournament to win but unfortunately it was not to be. Watson did not get all the links bounces today that he was getting all week.
Playing a few groups ahead of Watson was Stewart Cink. Cink had a birdie putt on eighteen to tie Watson at two under par. Cink did not flinch at all and sank the putt. He finished with a great score of 69 and was now tied for the lead. As he was shaking hands afterward, Tom Watson was making a birdie putt on seventeen. Watson now had a one stroke lead over Cink and needed par on eighteen to win his record tying sixth Open Championship and complete the greatest accomplishment in individual sport. Watson had two pars and a birdie on eighteen in the three previous rounds. It was here that the dream was blindsided. After a good tee ball, Watson hit an eight iron for his approach and carried it too far onto the green. It rolled off the green and nestled against the rough in the back of the green. At that point Watson elected to putt the ball instead of chipping and putted the ball well past the pin. He needed to make this putt for a par to win. He then hit one of the worst putts he hit all week, it was short and right. After tapping in for bogey he was in a four hole playoff with Cink, but essentially he lost the Open right there. It took him four shots from 187 yards to get in the hole on eighteen. The disappointment was obvious. The fans were crushed as well as Watson. He never contended in the playoff, Cink entered the playoff on a high and Watson entered with a broken heart. 
Stewart Cink played excellent golf today. He sank the putt on eighteen when it was his only chance to win and he struck beautiful shots in the playoff. He is a deserving champion and certainly will contend in more majors. But, this was a tournament for the ages. This was to be an historic day in golf and in sport. This was to be the day a legend, well past his prime, showed the young ones that he still had game, that he could take their best and still come out on top. He may have come up a little short, but we should thank Tom Watson for an historic week, a legendary week, a week when he showed the world he still has a game, that he is a true living legend and still the greatest links player ever.
When Tom Watson tees off today in the Open Championship he will be taking another step into history. He already holds the record for the oldest 54 hole leader at a major championship, but that means little to him. He is looking for his sixth Open Championship, which would tie him with Harry Vardon and more importantly, shock the world of golf. Watson’s play as a fifty nine year old past champion is nothing less than miraculous. There is no golfer in modern golf history that plays a links course as well as Watson. His five Open Championships are a testament to his dominance.
The Scots adopted Watson long ago as one of their own. His popularity there is on a par with Nicklaus and
Bobby Jones. The media in Scotland is as taken with Watson as the fans on Turnberry are, and while Watson has spoken of the spirit of Turnberry, some think it may be Old Tom Morris himself helping Watson around these windy links. If the Golfing Gods are apt to show favor to anyone tomorrow it would have to be “Old Tom Watson.”
Hopefully, Watson will be able to steady his hands and blink through his misty eyes as he tees off on the first hole. At day’s end, Watson will be in the history books one way or the other. If the Golfing Gods and the Spirit of Turnberry show favor on Scotland’s adopted hero, Watson will be kissing the Claret Jug once again.
by Jeff Skinner
An inspired Tom Watson is still doing it. He has set the golf world on its ear as he still leads The Open Championship going into the final round. He’ll be sixty years old in two months and is on the verge of achieving one of the most remarkable feats in sport. If he wins he will be the oldest major champion in the history of golf. But, this would transcend golf and have to be considered as one of the most significant wins in individual sport. Watson appears to be taking it all in stride. He has spoken of the spirituality of being at Turnberry and has a sense that something extra special is going on there, with him being the recipient of this extraordinary happening.
It may well be that the spirit of the other T.W. (Tiger Woods), who was dispatched two days early by the “Old
Girl”, as Turnberry is called by the locals, has found a home in the old bones of this T.W. Tom Watson spoke of his game plan for this tournament. He rarely sets a game plan, but has this week. He looked like Tiger off the tee, as he used irons, hybrids and three woods and a driver only occasionally. Woods used a similar game plan to win many tournaments. Watson also was imitating Woods with the putter as he sank a few long bombs and a couple of clutch par putts.
Watson hung tough all day and played a smart game that utilized his unparalleled ability to win on links courses. Peter Alliss said that, “There is a lot of hit and hope in links golf, that’s why you have to have a feel for it. Watson is the greatest links player in modern times.” No one has a feel for the links game like Tom Watson. After a 36 on the front and a bogey on twelve, Watson had lost his lead and it could have been the start of his fading away. Watson and the “spirits” would not allow it. Faced with a longish, difficult putt to save par at fourteen, he drilled it home. He again threatened to fade after his tee shot on the par three fifteenth landed in the back bunker forcing him to take bogey. The sixteenth hole has played as one of the toughest holes this week, except for Watson. The spirit of Turnberry has been kind to Watson this week. He sank a long birdie putt there on Friday. He sank another long bomb there today to put himself back in a tie for the lead. Seventeen is the only real birdie hole on the back nine when the wind is howling as it was today. Watson slid his eagle putt just by the right side and took his birdie. He was back in the lead by one stroke over Mathew Goggin and Ross Fisher.
Once again like yesterday his walk up eighteen was an emotional trip. Watson, an emotional and sensitive man, said to his caddy, “Bruce is with us today.” Bruce was Watson’s long time friend and caddy that died from ALS a few years ago. His current caddy shot back at Watson, “Don’t make me cry.” But it was too late for Watson, he was teary eyed already. Watson took his par on eighteen and acknowledged the crowd that loves him so dearly and hugged his wife. He’ll no doubt reflect on his day tonight over a wine or two and think about the task that awaits him tomorrow. He’ll be on the verge of the greatest win in major championship history, but he won’t be alone. He’ll have the best wishes of Jack, Arnie and Gary with him, he’ll have the memories of five past Open Championships with him, he’ll have Bruce Edwards with him and he’ll have the spirit of Turnberry with him. Can he do it? If the wind blows again tomorrow, he’ll need to make room in his luggage for the Claret Jug. Luckily the spirit of Turnberry needs no luggage; he carries it with him in his heart.
Hooks and Slices from The Open
We’ll be missing these guys on the weekend as the harsh reality of the cut has sent them packing.
Tiger: What the heck was that? 71-74 from the world’s best? Goes to show you, it
comes and it goes, even for Tiger.
Ben Curtis: Former Champ balloons to 80 after 68 on day one.
Monty: He’s done, just ask Sandy Lyle
Sandy Lyle: Shut up Sandy, show some class and go home.
Adam Scott: So much for the comeback. Missed it by one stroke, but has tennis hottie to console him.
David Duval: Three doubles in round two doomed him. His comeback takes a hit.
Lucas Glover: Open Champ showed class by playing every week since winning, he’s burnt. Take a rest Lucas.
Brian Gay: One of the hot Americans struggled on the “Links.”
Anthony Kim: Even with a nine on a par four he only missed by two strokes.
Hunter Mahan: He couldn’t hit a fairway or a green.
Ian Poulter: Union Jack didn’t work.
Geoff Ogilvy: Did not have one nine at par or under.
Sights and Sounds at The Open:
Cheers to John Day, only five back at even par…even with those pants….If the Scots are to have one of their own win it’s going to be David Drysdale (T41) or Paul Lawrie (T65)….Co-Leader Steve Marino, an alternate, 
said, “It’s one of the hardest course I ever played.”….Here’s to the old guys with guts, real guts that is, Mark Calcavecchia is T3 and his wife is on the bag, his approach on 14 lipped the cup…Not only does youngster Ryo Ishikawa have a head cover that looks like him, body and all, (a la Ian Poulter) he has his face on his golf ball…Tiger’s temper on nine and ten and everywhere else, he was on the edge of losing it…Turnberry, Wow, the look of the course, the Hotel, the bunkers, the beach ( if that can be called beach), the fescue grass, the wind, what a place…Sergio missing short putts again…Watson hits it longer than ever, 296 off the tee…Tiger’s lost ball on ten, hundreds of fans looking for the ball, finding a wrong one, TW was pissed…The tenth tee, sitting out
on the rocks, awesome…Jimenez with one leg in the bunker, half sitting to hit his bunker shot, he left it in the sand, but is still only two back…No Greg and Crissy making out, thank God…Tiger on the Clock!..Wow, I give those Scots some credit; it’s about time someone did it…Looks like those extra yards combined with the wind really put some more bite into Turnberry…Finally, Tom Watson is the class of this tournament. In fact he is the class of golf right now. Take a lesson how to play this game the way it is meant to be played. There are few men with the class, dignity and grace of Watson.
by Jeff Skinner
Tom Watson continued his astonishing play at The Open today with a miraculous salvaging of a round that could have possibly put him out of the running. After he started the day with a birdie on the first, he bogeyed five of the next six holes and stood at one under par, quickly falling off the top of the leader board and back into the pack. Watson drew on his years of Open Championship experience over the next eleven holes and waged a battle reminiscent of his legendary Duel in the Sun with Nicklaus in 1977. However his foe wasn’t Nicklaus or any other golfer. His battle was with the wind and the elements, and his swing and himself and the sentiment that his first day’s round was a fluke. We have seen it before. A great older golfer plays a brilliant first round, only to blow up on the next day to disappear from contention. This was not to be the case with Watson. He knew the front would be brutal in this twenty mile per hour wind. He knew if he could hang on and keep his wits about him he had a chance to score on the back nine. It was a plan executed to perfection. He started with a twenty five foot putt for birdie on nine and followed that with another birdie on eleven. Four straight pars left him on the sixteenth green with a monster putt for birdie. “I made two field goals out there” referring to his two long putts that fell for birdie. His bird at sixteen put him to four under, one stroke back of leader Steve Marino. He had done it. He was able to rescue his round, after shooting thirty eight on the front he was still only one back of the lead. As he walked to the eighteenth green, it was not the walk of an aging legend taking a final curtain call. It was the walk of determination and grit. It was the walk of a champion. The crowd welcomed their adopted son with a roaring ovation and for a second he must have had the sensation of 1977 all over again. But Watson still had some work to do. His long putt from all the way across the green curled towards the hole and looked to be tracking to the cup. As it fell over the edge for another amazing birdie, Watson gave a little kick and a huge smile in approval. He was tied for the lead and has all intentions of winning the Claret Jug.
Watson spoke of the spirituality of Turnberry yesterday and today said, “Something was on my side today. 
The spirits were on my side.” Watson is not blind to the effects that age has in store for him. “It was a fine walk going up eighteen,” he said, “I don’t have too many years left playing in The Open Championship. I had some wonderful memories…maybe I can make one more memory here.”
Watson congratulated his playing partners with hearty handshakes with Sergio Garcia and British Amateur Champion Matteo Manassero. As he walked off the green he placed his arm around Manassero and gave him some words of encouragement. For a second it looked like 1977 again, with Watson and Nicklaus walking off with arms around each other. Maybe Watson can make one more grand memory here, what a memory it would be.
