TURNBERRY, Scotland – Tom Watson fought hard in the 138th British Open Championship, holding a one-stroke lead with a hole to play and needing just a par to make history, but it wasn’t meant to be. When Watson hit the 72nd green, he needed two putts to win but unfortunately his ball kept rolling. His playing partner, Australian Matthew Goggin, said later he thought Watson had hit “a perfect shot.” Instead his ball landed in a clump of grass. If it was just a few inches closer, he could’ve comfortably two putted, Goggin guessed. Tom Watson loses to Stewart Cink in a 4-hole playoff. Watch video.
“The playoff was just one bad shot after another,” Watson said, “I didn’t give (Cink) much competition.” “In retrospect, I probably would have hit a 9 iron rather than an 8 iron (into the last hole),” he said during an emotional news conference, “I was thinking 9, but I said, ‘I’ll hit 8’, and I caught it just the way I wanted to, and sure enough, it went too far.” “I chose to putt it from the short rough there. I just felt like I had a better chance to get it close, and I looked at that upslope, looked like there was some grain in there, so I decided I was going to make sure I wasn’t going to leave it short and sure, I gunned it on by and made a lousy putt.”
During his emotional news conference — which ended with a standing ovation to the man they once dubbed the King of Scotland — Watson struggled to maintain his composure. “It would’ve been a hell of a story, wouldn’t it? It wasn’t to be and, yes, it’s a great disappointment. It tears at your gut, as it always has torn at my gut. It’s not easy to take.” “When all is said and done,” he said, “One of the things I hope that will come out of my life is that my peers will say, you know, that Watson, he was a hell of a golfer.” Stewart Cink and Tom Watson British Open Interview.
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