Watson's dream turns to a nightmare; Cink realizes his dream
Mike Dudurich
Posted 2009-07-19
Golf fans and historians may be quick to characterize Stewart Cink as the villain in one of golf’s greatest passion plays, the 2009 British Open championship.
That, however, would be wrong. It would be a disservice to what Cink accomplished during a long Sunday at Turnberry’s Ailsa Course in Scotland.
It’s certainly not his fault that Tom Watson, the 59-year-old wonder who had captured the hearts and minds of all who watched the 138th Open Championship, frittered away his chance at history in the waning moments of the day.
Yes, Cink’s 6-shot victory in the four-hole playoff kept Watson from making his name even more prominently. But it wasn’t like Cink snuck up behind Watson and broke his putter, just before it looked as though Watson would win by sinking an 8-foot par putt on the 72nd hole.
Watson stood in the middle of that fairway with an 8-iron in his hands (he admitted in retrospect that it probably should have been a 9) with the chance to do a lot of special things. It was somewhat reminiscent of Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie standing in a similar position on the final hole at Winged Foot in the 2006 U.S. Open.
Monty’s approach shot was much worse, barely noticing the green as it fell weekly into the rough to the right. Watson his the green, but hit too far into the green and and the ball rolled through up against the rough behind the green.
While Watson was looking to add a bit more sparkle to an already glorious Hall of Fame career, Monty’s blunder cost him his likely last chance to win a major.
That’s why Watson, while extremely disappointed with letting the tournament slip through his fingers, started his media center press conference by saying, “This ain’t a funeral, ya know.”
As Watson opened up to the world-wide media, Cink was outside, in and around the 18th green, getting his photo taken numerous times and in numerous poses with the revered Claret Jug. This is a guy who was the college player of the year in 1995 at Georgia Tech, the player many thought could be the guy to push Tiger Woods as a pro.
And while he’s won six times on the PGA Tour, he’d been searching for that career-changing major victory until making a birdie on the 72nd hole Sunday to need Watson to make a mistake on that hole to force a playoff.
The birdie he made on the 18th was the fourth he made on the back nine on Sunday afternoon. Cink did all he could do to make Watson or Lee Westwood or Ross Fisher earn a victory in those pressure-packed final holes.
He admitted that he, like his fellow competitors in the field, watched with great admiration how Watson had navigated his way around the Turnberry links in his quest for a sixth Open championship. Which made finding himself in a playoff with Watson a bit conflicting.
“The whole thing is overwhelming,” Cink said. “So many emotions flooding through. I had mixed feelings about getting into the playoff. I have such an admiration for Tom, even before this week. But the way he’s played this week. … It’s a little regretful that I ended up being pitted against him. But Tom was great this week, a gentleman to the end.”
In addition to being an elite player who’s a staple on Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams, Cink is also a widely regarded as a true gentleman.
I can speak from personal experience on that subject. In September of 2001, the Marconi Pennsylvania Classic – a short-lived event on the PGA Tour – was held at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pa., about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
I was fortunate enough to get into the Wednesday pro-am and our pro was Stewart Cink. Having some experience in pro-ams, Cink was unlike anyone I’ve ever played with. Approachable, friendly, conversational, he had it all.
As the calendar would have it, the tournament was the first Tour event to be held following the tragic events of 9/11/01. Unfortunately, Laurel Valley GC was in the revised flight path of Flight 93, the jet that would within minutes crash into the Pennsylvania hillside after flying over the club.
Once we established that I was a member of the media and lived 15 minutes away from the club, Cink and I spent a great deal of time walking and talking about how the world had changed just eight days earlier.
As we all were, he was very concerned about the world, the safety of his family and our country.
So it’s never a surprise for me when I hear him speak eloquently and passionately on any issue.
There’s no doubt he’ll be labeled as the guy who won the Open only because Watson was bitten again by his inability to make short putts.
And that would be a great injustice to how Cink played this week.
“Take nothing away from Stewart, he’s a very deserving champion,” Watson said. “I made a lousy putt (on 18). Then in the playoff, it was bad shot after another.
“It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn’t it,” Watson said. “I’ll take a lot of warmth from this week, a lot of spirituality. There was something out there, I still believe that, helping me along. Yes it’s a great disappointment, it tears at your gut as it always has. It’s Turnberry, there are great memories here. This would have been another great memory. The dream almost came true, but I didn’t give him much competition in the playoff.”
What he did, however, was give the golfing world something to talk about for decades. And when the 2009 Open is discussed, Stewart Cink should get all the credit he deserves for winning his first major title.
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As a sports writer for over 35 years, Mike Dudurich has seen a lot of great things, covered spectacular events, but his passion is, and has been golf.
He recently ended a 29-year career at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and will now be a frequent contributor on GolfGearReview.com.
Mike hosts a weekly golf radio show on 1250 ESPN in Pittsburgh from the beginning of April through the end of August.
The show airs Saturdays from 8-9 a.m. and can be heard online at