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Moving on Van de Velde not living in British Open past
Posted: Thursday August 12, 1999 12:42 AM
MEDINAH, Ill. (AP) -- He kept his socks and shoes on. Other than that, very little about Jean Van de Velde has changed since he commandeered center stage for one of golf's greatest dramas ever. "People recognize me and a lot of them say, 'Thanks a lot for what I saw. It was great. I had a good time in front of my TV. Next time it will be you.' "And so," he said, "it makes you feel good." Good? Plenty of emotions come to mind recalling the tragicomedy in which Van de Velde hacked his way up and down the 18th hole at last month's British Open. But good is nowhere within 10 places of the top of that list. And yet, the longer the Frenchman sat and deftly handled questions on the eve of the PGA Championship, the more it seemed that this was the right man to have fallen into the wrong situation. Instead of being crushed by the triple-bogey 7 that pushed him into a four-hole playoff eventually won by Scotsman Paul Lawrie, Van de Velde appears to have been buoyed by the experience. Strengthened, even. He didn't watch a replay of the last hole at the Carnoustie Golf Links until Tuesday, when he taped a television interview. It turned out to be anything but the numbing show he expected. "It was pretty funny," Van de Velde said. "I mean, my face was pretty funny, especially after I hit that drive. It went so far right I didn't even know where the ball was [until] someone told me. And when I looked at my face, I was still smiling." The temptation is to think that the humor is just a mask, a way of hiding the hurt that clings to memories as sharp as the one Van de Velde awakes to each morning. In that case, think again. He admits he barely slept the first two nights after Carnoustie. But once Van de Velde settled back into the familiar rhythms of day-to-day life -- taking his daughter to school, sharing a bottle of wine with his wife, hitting golf balls on the range alongside fellow pros who barely knew how to approach him -- he found the laughter flowed easily enough once again. "You know, maybe it's in my temperament. I don't know. Not that I intend to forget things very quickly, but that's it. You don't live in the past. I walked out of there with my head and chin pretty straight. And that's all I could do. It wasn't enough that time. "But if I ever arrive three shots ahead in a major," and here Van de Velde, a natural comic, fixed his audience, "I guess if that happened about 10 times, I might make one." Even as the chuckles died out, it began dawning on just about everyone in the room that he wasn't kidding. Not entirely, anyway. "You know, there's one thing that week taught me -- that I'm capable of doing it. I'm capable of competing with the best players in the world and that is something that no one's going to take away. "It's not like putting your name down on the trophy. It's something that you have to experience and that you know afterward. I knew somehow I could do it and I proved it to myself. Now it's going to be a matter of doing it again. I'd like it to be here." And why not? Van de Velde believes he learned more about himself through that singular, spectacular failure than a lifetime of close calls. He had a chance to win the British Open by playing not to lose, by pretending the brutal, water-lined 18th was a par-5 instead of a par-4. Instead, with his caddy keeping silent and doubt gnawing at his elbow -- Van De Velde went at it the only way his nature would allow. The next time he finds himself in that situation -- and Van de Velde is certain there will be a next time -- doubt will not be part of the equation. That, he also believes, will make all the difference in the world. Because he is already finished with what might have been. "What can I say to people who tell me you should have done this, you should have done that? "Maybe I will answer them, 'Well, I haven't seen you on the tee of the 72nd hole three shots ahead. So if you ever get that chance, I'm going to give you a quarter and you give me a phone call.' "That's maybe one thing I can tell them."
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