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Most spectators and commentators turning up to watch the British Open at Troon last weekend were expecting to see a man with the initials TW win the title.
However, it was not the man we expected as veteran Tom Watson captured the imagination of not just the golfing world but the sporting one as well and came within a hair's breadth of becoming champion. Only a moment's lapse of concentration on the 72nd hole prevented him from achieving what could have been argued was the greatest sporting achievement of all time.
It was left to fellow American and first-time Grand Slam winner Stewart Cink to ruin the party and become probably the most unpopular winner of this tournament. It is not that he himself is not popular it is just the goodwill and excitement that had been growing since Watson put himself into position to win after 36 holes was so enormous that it came as a slight anti-climax when he failed to do so.
Watson himself, five times Open winner, knows though that championships are not won in the first 63 holes, they are won on the back nine on Sunday and Cink carded four birdies on the back nine to put him in the on -2 as clubhouse leader.
Watson, meanwhile, was playing some solid golf and going into the final hole needed only to par to win and after hitting the fairway and running slightly through the green he had two shots for par. Whilst his first putt was full of energy to run 12ft past his second was full of nerves and barely made the hole. He had three-putted, the crowd sighed and the two Americans were off to a four hole playoff.
The tournament had started in benign conditions and scoring was brisk on the Thursday with plenty of sub par scores. The significant rainfall had led to approachable greens and the wind was not as bad as it could have been on a links course. Favourite Tiger Woods had an early morning tee off but failed to make the most of the conditions and carded an unimpressive, but still in contention 71.
Friday for the world number one was a different story and after a promising start his game fell apart at the beginning of the back nine and he slipped to +7. Two late birdies were not enough, though, to stop him missing the cut and for only the second time in his professional career he failed to make it into the weekend at a major championship.
The previous time had been at the US Open after his father had died so this time it was somewhat out of the blue but many onlookers could see the problems he was having shaping the ball which is a compulsory requirement to be successful on a Links course and ultimately led to his downfall. He will of course work on this over the next few weeks and it would be no surprise to see a different Tiger at the next Major.
Home fans were cheering on Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood who were trying to be the first British golfers to win since Paul Lawrie 10 years ago. Fisher's wife was expecting a baby and had promised to leave the course should she go into labour but after taking an eight at the par four fifth this dilemma was no longer an issue. Westwood, meanwhile, was going along serenely and, but for an ill-judged three putt at the last he would have been in the playoff.
Westwood is a talented golfer but you only get so many chances at tournaments like this until the prospect of never winning begins to play on your mind. The man from Worksop is close to this point and if he fails to deliver next time it might be that he never will and will end up having more in common with Colin Montgomerie than he ever wished for.
Monty for the record had a miserable couple of days missing the cut and having a public spat with Sandy Lyle over an alleged cheating incident four years ago. Whilst most onlookers felt Lyle was in the wrong to bring an incident the Scot was completely cleared of it probably affected him mentally more than he let on and the result could be seen in his golf.
The playoff between the two Americans was a one-sided affair with Watson's game falling apart and a somewhat embarrassed Cink collected the Claret Jug with a seven-shot win. It was a shame to see a golfer such as Watson lose his game so dramatically but such was the fall after that missed putt on 18 that he could not retrieve his form in time.
It was a memorable week that nearly resulted in the most astonishing victory for a man only 10 weeks being sixty but as most sportsmen know the best player usually wins in the end and that man this time was Stewart Cink. It is easy to forget that whilst Watson missed his 10-footer to win on the last Cink himself made a putt from further to get to 2-under and that is always the difference in these events - play well but hold your putts.
