Left field

No Woods, no problem … but for how long?

Tiger Woods hacked and shanked his way to a two-round score of five over par at this year’s British Open, missing just the fifth cut of his professional career and only his second in a major championship.

Facing a Tiger-less weekend must have had television executives and sponsors sweating. The 2008 British Open, which Woods missed recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, saw TV ratings of the final round on ABC plummet 13.3 percent from the previous year.

But the ’09 British Open had a secret weapon, Tom Watson.

The 59 year-old self proclaimed ‘geezer’ was battling not only course, but he was fighting father time. A victory would have made him the oldest major champion on the PGA tour by 11 years.

After 54 holes, Watson looked poised to shatter the record as he led the field heading into Sunday’s final round at Turnberry.

However, Stewart Cink sunk the fairytale ending with his two-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole, cutting short Watson’s chase of immortality.

But Watson provided more than enough compelling drama over the final two days to keep viewers hooked. Watson would drain a lengthy putt, then ABC would pull-up video from the famous ‘Duel in the Sun’.  Watson would bump and run to within five feet of the cup, then viewers were treated to a side-by-side look, comparing his swing from today to his last major championship victory 26 years ago — at Royal Birkdale. Woods’ missed cut quickly became an afterthought.

Cink keeps it simple to win Open

Monday’s British newspapers will be awash with puns about Stewart Cink-ing the putt that won him the Open and his first major.

The American triumphed in a playoff with veteran Tom Watson, who might be the victim of some further tabloid tomfoolery given he certainly suffered a sinking feeling after as his game fell apart on the extra holes.

The fairytale didn’t happen for five-times winner Watson but by going so close he showed that in golf you are never too old.

That might be some consolation for a still-young Tiger Woods after he missed the cut and the likes of Lee Westwood, who was in with a shout and ran out of steam at the end of his round.

PHOTO: Stewart Cink of the U.S. reacts after his birdie putt on the 18th green during the final round of the British Open Golf Championship at the Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland, July 19, 2009. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

British Open proves elementary for Watson, tough on Tiger

It is fair to say we all expected an American with a surname beginning with W to be soaring up the British Open leaderboard but everyone has been shocked that it is 59-year-old senior Tom Watson topping the strong field and not a certain Tiger Woods.

Whilst the world number one toiled in calm conditions at Turnberry’s Ailsa course on Thursday, five-times Open champion Watson was recording a bogey-free five-under-par 65 to take the early clubhouse lead.

“Yesterday and the day before, playing the practice rounds I felt very good about the way I was hitting the ball and the way I was putting the ball,” Watson told reporters. “And it was not much of a surprise for me to go out there and get under par.”

Many will expect the eight-times major winner to fall away and not remain in contention but may I remind you cynics of the performance of another past master, Greg Norman, at last year’s championship at Birkdale. Norman finished third after leading going into the final round.

And it is not just Watson who is proving a torch bearer for the elder members of the golf circuit. Fifty-two year-old twice Open champion Mark O’Meara went out early and fired a solid three-under par 67 to sit alongside 1989 champion Mark Calcavecchia – one year shy of his 50th birthday.

Much of the talk at Turnberry before the championship had been about the chances of young Briton Rory McIlroy and teenaged Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa lifting the Claret Jug but Watson and co have shown them they still have a lot to learn on the South Ayrshire links.

In light of the fact that veteran Kenny Perry, 48, came within a whisker of winning this year’s Masters, only succumbing to eventual winner Angel Cabrera in a play-off, could this be the year the veterans fights back?