French farce at No. 18
A close look at Van de Velde's disastrous 7 on final hole
Posted: Sunday July 18, 1999 10:02 PM
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All wet: Van de Velde smiled in disbelief, as he considered hitting his fourth shot out of the burn. AP |
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (Reuters) -- Jean Van de Velde had every right to consider the British Open championship in the bag as he stood on the 18th and last tee on Sunday.
But in an extraordinary finale that bordered on the farcical, the Frenchman did his level best to lose the title in one of the most bizarre holes of championship golf ever played.
Van de Velde, a comfortable five ahead at the start of the last round, had lost his lead to Australian Craig Parry then courageously regained it and held a three-shot advantage as he boldly reached for his driver at 18.
He knew that a 2-over par six would be enough to win the crown.
In his first three rounds Van de Velde had posted a par and two bogeys.
This is what happened on Sunday:
First shot: Van de Velde abandoned the safe tee shot with an iron and went with the driver that had served him so well on the previous three days. This time he fired the ball way to the right where it flirted with a stream before eventually came to rest on the 17th fairway.
Second shot: Faced with the option of laying up short or going all out for the blind green, the Frenchman chose the latter. His shot was never on the right trajectory and the ball crashed into a stanchion at the front of the grandstand. The bounce was favorable, rebounding to ricochet off the concrete side of the Barry Burn stream and coming to rest in rough 30 yards to the right of the green.
Third shot: Van de Velde, buried up to his thighs in grass, swiped at the ball then watched in disbelief as it looped gently into the burn just a few yards in front of him.
There then followed an almost farcical scene as he contemplated his options. Parry joked that his partner should wait a few minutes for the tide to go out but the Frenchman then astonished the packed galleries by calmly sitting down and removing his shoes and socks. However, after wading into the silty-bottomed stream and surveying the sheer-faced wall of concrete directly ahead of him he decided discretion was the better part of valor and took the penalty drop.
Fourth shot: Penalty drop back into the rough.
Fifth shot: Needing to hole out in two to win, Van de Velde made tentative contact, failed to follow-through and looped his ball into a greenside bunker, almost alongside Parry's, who make a bunker shot to add to the drama.
Sixth shot: Van de Velde played a good bunker shot but the ball rolled on agonizingly before coming to rest around five feet from the pin.
Seventh shot: After starting the hole needing a six to win the tournament, the Frenchman was faced with a testing putt just to make a three-way play-off with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie.
Van de Velde's putting had been superb on Saturday but he had sunk little on Sunday.
His putt began heading dangerously right but kicked back into line to drop safely into the cup.
Van de Velde screamed and punched the air in delight, throwing his ball to the crowd where his wife stood shaking her head, crying tears of disbelief.
She was not alone.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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