You can say that a 53 year old Greg Norman entered the last round with the best score and couldn't finish. You can say it was a case of nerves like the younger Greg--he couldn't seal the deal often on the brightest stages. Or, maybe simply the magic ran out. After all, what should we expect from a man past his physical prime to be able to accomplish at the British Open when champions ten and twenty years fresher play?
Of course, it's us, the viewers, who lose when the drives go wayward and the putts stop falling. It's us who don't see the glorious chapter written with the happy ending, when on Sunday this year Tom Watson misses, from 8 feet, a putt which would give him a 1-stroke win. Our hearts and heads pull for him even though he's a 5-time Open champion. You gradually change and suddenly become the underdog when you're 59 years old.
Still there is opportunity. Watson has four more holes to take the claret jug, but he doesn't. An accomplished veteran, Stewart Cink, a man who many normally would have been cheering so that he could get his first major win, raises his play in the playoff and finishes this year's writing. Watson's 2nd and I will remember.
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