I'm going to have a drink!

[RJ_Daley]

Let's all toast Tom Watson, for the most valiant effort and giving us old geezers a thrill of a lifetime, and congratulate Stewart Cink for putting a very final point on the contest.  He won it in excellent fashion during the playoff, pure and simple.  That playoff performance would probably have beat anyone, including Tiger.

[Jim Nugent]

I didn't see the tournament.  Can someone tell me how Watson played the 72nd hole? 

[Jason Connor]

He was in the fairway and his approached landed on the green and went long into the rough cut. He didn't get up & down.

This was a very common mistake today.  To keep the ball on the green, you hand to land short and let the ball run up.  But very very few players were taking this approach.

So he made a mistake that many other guys also made.

For instant Wood made the same mistake and it cost him a spot in the playoff.

[John_Conley]

Good drive, iron landed hard and rolled just through green.  Three putts from over, most pros probably would have wedged.  A very tough up n down.

[Gib_Papazian]

I am happy for Stewart Cink, his putt on 18 was pure guts for glory. Yet, I've got to admit this has deflated me terribly. Norman proved last year it was possible to win The Open after age 50, but his age came out in the wash on Sunday and that was that. Today, Watson was so brave and timeless - marching down the back nine despite the yips, despite his age and in the same footsteps of his greatest victory 32 years ago. That approach shot at the last was brilliant. Only providence conspired against him, toying with us before kicking that ball just a foot too far. Youth was served and I am saddened that history served up such a cruel and bitter end; for a moment I was able to ignore the erosion wrought by years and believe in miracles. But the illusion vanished and all that was left was a tired old man trudging down the fairway in defeat.

 

        

[Phil McDade]

Wonderful tee shot with a hybrid, middle-right of fairway, ball on slight upslope, he hit 8-iron the wind behind, ran it through the green just off the fringe into the rough, OK lie, hit putter about 8 ft past hole, and hit a really poor putt right of hole. Bogey with a tap-in.

He's saying right now in the press conference that he didn't want to leave the second shot short, so he choose 8 instead of 9, and obviously gunned it, and told himself in the air that he thought he'd hit a great shot. Azinger thought if it hit about two feet shorter on the green it would've run just past the hole to easy two-putt range, instead of into the rough.

[Wayne_Kozun]

It looks like Stewart's younger soon is rebelling already - Papa is covered in Nike swooshes and the younger son is wearing the three stripes of Adidas.

[Anthony Gray]

I didn't see the tournament.  Can someone tell me how Watson played the 72nd hole? 

   Me too Jim.

  Anthony

[TEPaul]

I'm not going to have a drink--I am having a drink! I've seen most of the major championships every year for over fifty years and I have never been this emotionally spent---not remotely close.

Congratulations Stewart Cink!

Tom Watson---what you did this week that was so unexpected, I can't put into words right now except to say the way you conducted yourself and what you said in your interviews this week is, to me, as good and memorable and indicative of everything golf should be, as the way you have always conducted yourself on the golf course in your remarkable career in front of us all, capped by your glorious performance at the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry at almost 60 years old.

[Scott Szabo]

Let's all toast Tom Watson, for the most valiant effort and giving us old geezers a thrill of a lifetime, and congratulate Stewart Cink for putting a very final point on the contest.  He won it in excellent fashion during the playoff, pure and simple.  That playoff performance would probably have beat anyone, including Tiger.

Amen, RJ.

[Mitchell Schneringer]

Bittersweet.  Happy for both Tom and Stewart.  Unfortunate Tom couldn't win it in regulation, as he hit the 8 iron perfectly into the 72nd hole.  But, as he knows well, that's links golf and the bounces that come with it.

It's interesting that all of the players speak VERY highly of Stewart as a man.  He's obviously a good golfer, and an even better man if you listen closely to the ex-player commentators (Strange, Azinger, etc).  

While it appears that Watson dropped the tourney, my hat goes off to Stewart as he played his final 5 holes today (including playoff) in 3 under par.  To birdie hole 18 twice today really proves he's a deserving champion and that he won it rather than Tom losing it.

[Matt_Cohn]

It's not just this one - all three of them this year.

First Perry desperately trying to hang on at Augusta.

Then Mickelson with his whole backstory trying to score perhaps the most emotional win of all time.

Then Watson trying to win maybe the most improbable one of all time.

I'm spent...I can hardly bear the thought of what might happen at Hazeltine and I'm just glad we have a few weeks to recover.

[Phil McDade]

Our man R.J. may have to have more than a drink tonight if hometown boy Jerry Kelly loses his current lead at the old GMO (US Bank Championship) now playing at Brew-town's Brown Deer muni.

[Carlyle Rood]

As difficult as it was to perceive any chance for a fifty-nine-year-old to win a major championship prior to this tournament, the outcome seems to beg another question.  If you can reach the 18th on Sunday to win a major at age 59, is it conceivable that you could do it at 60?  It would be an improbable victory; but, I no longer think it would be impossible.

[Joel_Stewart]

Good drive, iron landed hard and rolled just through green.  Three putts from over, most pros probably would have wedged.  A very tough up n down.

The drive ended up in the first cut.  As Andy North said, the 8 iron was a flyer and really took off.  I think it was Weiskopf that said it rolled 6 inches to far into the rough yet he still elected to putt it, into the grain.  He just hit the putt a little too hard and went by 5 feet.  That putt was ungodly bad, didn't even sniff the hole.

[Chris DeNigris]

Tom's drive on 18 was center of the fairway, he didn't catch a flyer he just amped an 8. Just a yard or two from perfect. I think it was 17 where his drive just trickled into the first cut.

As much as I wanted TW to win, this might have been the best way for it to end. Tom's won 5 already, Cink may never have another real chance at the Open. I've always liked Stewart, he's been a Ryder unsung hero and he's a good guy.

The fact that Tom absolutely played well enough to win, hitting pure shots on the closing holes (not like he pulled a Monty on 18) and was victimized by a tough bounce...totally vindicates his effort. He didn't lose it, he just got beat. Unlike Norman last year, he went the distance.

He may not have gotten his name on the jug for the 6th time but he won nontheless.

Best Open that I can remember.

[Philippe Binette]

I hope for one thing:

20 mph wind at the Old Course in 2010... Watson will give it another shot

[rjsimper]

Any chance the USGA does not give him a special exemption for 2010 at Pebble?

The way I read the qualifications, only the Open winner gets the US Open privileges...unlike Norman being invited back to the Masters.

[paul cowley]

RJ....hate to say but I had my first beer when he was on 16. Went to the fridge for something else, saw beer, looked at clock and said oh hell....this is to much stress!

Best major in many a moon.

If the 8 footer had fallen, I would say it was probably the best major ever.....or at least the most remarkable.

[tlavin]

It's not just this one - all three of them this year.

First Perry desperately trying to hang on at Augusta.

Then Mickelson with his whole backstory trying to score perhaps the most emotional win of all time.

Then Watson trying to win maybe the most improbable one of all time.

I'm spent...I can hardly bear the thought of what might happen at Hazeltine and I'm just glad we have a few weeks to recover.

Well said, indeed.  It's been a terrific year in the majors, even without Tiger really being in contention.  I love Tiger to death, but you have to believe that the great competition by others is good for the game.

[Anthony Gray]

  I think we all knew he would have nothing left for the playoff. I would have thought he knew the same and would have given his par put a run at 18. I didn't even want to watch the playoff. Painful.

  Anthony

[Garland Bayley]

  I think we all knew he would have nothing left for the playoff. I would have thought he knew the same and would have given his par put a run at 18. I didn't even want to watch the playoff. Painful.

  Anthony

Anthony,

We all know he came far closer with that putt than you would have.
Hard to imagine he didn't give "his par put (sic) a run at 18."

[Bruce Leland]

Congratulations Stewart Cink!

Tom Watson---what you did this week that was so unexpected, I can't put into words right now except to say the way you conducted yourself and what you said in your interviews this week is, to me, as good and memorable and indicative of everything golf should be, as the way you have always conducted yourself on the golf course in your remarkable career in front of us all, capped by your glorious performance at the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry at almost 60 years old.

Well said, Mr. Paul!!  What an amazing display of golf over 72 holes for Watson.  A timeless performance, an unfortunate end and a complete examination of what the game reveals......character!

[JLahrman]

Maybe Tom didn't know what we knew, but if the approach was two feet from perfect then it was about ten yards from what he needed.  He had to have wanted the ball to wind up about 30 feet short of the hole.  Obviously we got to watch guys struggle from behind the green and Watson didn't, but it just wasn't the place to be.

When he was about to hit I thought '187 to the flag, figure 167 to the front, land it ten yards short of that, that's 157.  Take the wind into account and this has got to be a nine-iron'.  I was nervous when they said he was hitting eight, especially since his adrenaline had to be pumping.  Still though, no guarantees in life, Westwood had three-putt from the front of the green; maybe Watson four-putts and it doesn't even go to a playoff and we second-guess why he didn't try to get it back to the hole on the approach.

Look at the top four and how they played the 72nd hole - all bogeyed except Cink who birdied.  The man finished like a champ and deserved to win.  That and his rock solid playoff - no matter how well Watson did, two-under was going to win that playoff.

I was definitely pulling for Tom - if he had won he would have been the oldest major champion by 11 years, which is absolutely ridiculous.  Golf just pulls the chair out from under you no matter who you are sometimes, and that was a tough way to lose.  He was all class though.

[Gib_Papazian]

My golf towel flies at half-mast. The ending - even though Cink is a terrific guy - ruined my day. I am still discouraged . . . . .