Padraig Harrington won the British Open for the second consecutive year while Greg Norman lost the seventh of eight major championships he's led into the final round. Those bald facts state what happened yesterday on yet another windy day at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England, but they hardly tell the tale.
Norman, 53, was bidding to become the oldest player to win a major. Julius Boros held that honour after winning the 1968 PGA Championship at 48. Norman, who won the 1986 and 1993 British Opens, doesn't even consider himself a competitive golfer any more. He was on his honeymoon with retired tennis champion Chris Evert, three weeks after their marriage, and came to Birkdale to practise before next week's Senior British Open. Instead, he took a two-shot lead into yesterday after playing nearly flawless golf for three rounds.
But Norman couldn't pull off what would have been the sports story of the year, surpassing even Tiger Woods's win last month in the U.S. Open while playing with a double stress fracture in his left leg and a damaged knee for which he has since had season-ending reconstructive surgery. It would have surpassed even the dramatic Wimbledon final in which Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer.
Norman shot 77 yesterday and tied for third with Henrik Stenson of Sweden, two shots behind Englishman Ian Poulter and six behind Harrington.
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Norman held a one-shot lead on the 10th tee, but shot three-over par on the last nine while Harrington played brilliant, strategic golf to shoot four-under 32 and one-under 69 for the round, completing 72 holes in three-over 283. Norman shot 39 the last nine.
"His sportsmanship on the golf course is second to none," Harrington said during his victory speech of Norman's demeanour on the course as they played together. "I'm sure it was a tough day for him. It looked like it was going to be his story this week."
In many ways, Norman was the story. His run to the top caught everybody's attention around the golf world. Even Canadians, who follow Mike Weir and Stephen Ames so closely, were taken by what Norman was doing. Norman was the subject of talk shows and stories much more than Weir and Ames were. Weir shot 75 yesterday to finish 16-over par and tied for 35th, while Ames came in with a 71 to finish 12-over par and tied for seventh. Both then hopped on the Royal Canadian Golf Association charter flight to Toronto. They'll play this week's RBC Canadian Open at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont.
As for Norman, he showed that a golfer's strength can sometimes be his weakness. He's always been strong, he's always played aggressively, and perhaps these traits contributed to his downfall yesterday.
Norman had been driving the ball a long way for anybody, never mind a 53-year-old, and he chose to attack the course. Winds that blew steadily around 50 kilometres an hour had a big effect on ball flight. Norman used his driver frequently, and missed fairway after fairway until deep in the round, by which time he was too far behind Harrington.
Norman didn't miss fairways into the punishing high rough because he hit many bad tee shots. It was more that the wind provided so little room for error that he'd have been wise to hit more irons off the tee. Too many of his long, high tee shots rode the wind through the fairways and into the rough, from where it was difficult to hit accurate shots to the greens.
The odd thing was that Norman chose to hit an iron off the first tee - smart strategy there - and found the fairway. Tom Watson, a consummate links player whose thinking allied to controlled ball-striking led him to five Open wins, was working for ABC and said, "That's exactly what Greg wanted on the first tee ball." Norman bogeyed the hole after missing the green with his second shot, but Watson had set the tone.
The most important thing to do on each hole, Watson knew, would be to hit the fairway. The most effective way would probably be by using an iron or perhaps a hybrid or fairway wood. But Norman kept hitting his driver. He'd done so for three days, and was in the lead. Why change plans? He'd won some 90 tournaments around the world during his sterling career, by going all out. Again, why change strategy?
Norman missed the fairway on the second hole, hitting his first driver of the day. He bogeyed the hole. He missed the fairway on the third hole, and made his third consecutive bogey. Harrington parred the first three holes and had taken the lead. But Norman regained the lead after Harrington made three consecutive bogies to finish the front nine. Game on, although Norman was still missing fairways.
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