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18 holes to glory Goosen, Brooks to decide U.S. Open in Monday playoff
Updated: Tuesday June 19, 2001 1:34 AM
TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Retief Goosen had everything but the trophy. Mark Brooks was cleaning out his locker. Stewart Cink was waiting to congratulate him. Tiger Woods was long gone. All that stood between Goosen and his first U.S. Open title was 12 feet and two putts, as easy as a quarterback taking a knee. What followed was hard to believe, bringing back painful images of Jean Van de Velde, Greg Norman, Scott Hoch and a host of others who squandered away championships in ways few could have imagined. Goosen rammed his 12-foot birdie putt past the hole, then badly missed the 2-footer for par coming back, giving Brooks a second chance Monday and the U.S. Open its first playoff in seven years. "Golf is a very cruel game at times," said Brooks, himself the victim of a three-putt bogey on the 18th just 30 minutes earlier. "I feel bad for him." Calm and cool during a pressure-packed Sunday at Southern Hills, Goosen finally showed some emotion when the par putt slid by on the right and the U.S. Open trophy slipped through his fingers. He raised back, put his hands on his hips and stared in disbelief. "Obviously, I'm not happy about what happened, but what can I do? I'm not going to go jump out of my hotel room," Goosen said. He steadied himself to make the most important of all -- the third one to give himself an 18-hole round with Brooks and a chance for redemption. "It's golf, you know?" Goosen said. "Tomorrow is another day." Not for Cink. After missing a 15-foot par putt, he missed the second from 18 inches that he figured would cost him only money -- not a berth in the playoff. "It was really hard to concentrate on that second putt," Cink said. "I really didn't think it meant much. I had put all my emotions and energy into the first one."
It wasn't quite as wild as Van de Velde taking triple bogey to squander the British Open at Carnoustie in 1999, but it was no less shocking. There have been other short misses on the final hole -- Hoch from 2 feet in a playoff at the 1989 Masters, Doug Sanders from about the same distance in the 1970 British Open at St. Andrews against Jack Nicklaus. Add Goosen to the list -- unless he can redeem himself Monday. Goosen (71) and Brooks (70) finished at 4-under 276, while Cink failed to break par for the first time this week with his 72 and was at 275. Rocco Mediate had a 72 and was another stroke back. No one else broke par at Southern Hills, a course that featured the longest hole in U.S. Open history and will be remembered for two of the shortest putts ever missed. The shocking conclusion was almost enough to forget that Woods' streak in the major championships finally ended at four. He shot a 69 and finished in a tie for 12th. Asked if it was the most disappointed he had been after a major in a long time, Woods said, "Considering I won the last four, yes." It will be the first U.S. Open playoff since 1994, when Ernie Els defeated Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie at Oakmont. "I look forward to tomorrow," said Goosen, trying to become the first international player since Els in 1997 to win the U.S. Open. "I'm not worried at all." It could have been worse. He could have been Van de Velde. The Frenchman had a three-stroke lead going into the 72nd hole at Carnoustie when he made one bad decision after another -- a driver into the rough, a 2-iron that bounced off the grandstand and went over the creek, a wedge into the creek, a shot into the bunker.
He wound up with a triple bogey, and Paul Lawrie won in a four-hole playoff. At least Goosen gets a day to think about his stunning three-putt. At least he still has a chance. The same could not be said for some of the 10 players that were separated by six shots when the final round started under hot, sunny skies. By the time the leaders got to the back nine, it was a three-man race -- just not the three anyone expected. Woods failed to provide many theatrics other than reaching the 642-yard fifth hole -- the longest in U.S. Open history -- in two shots. He finished at 283, ending his streak of 40 consecutive stroke-play tournaments under par. The surprise, though, was who didn't make a run. For the sixth time in his career, Phil Mickelson was within two strokes of the lead going into the final round of a major. So much for experience. He was hanging around until hitting his ninth tee shot toward the first fairway, then three-putting from 4 feet on No. 13. "I'm not going to beat myself up over this," Mickelson said after a 75. Sergio Garcia was poised to become the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923. Instead, the 21-year-old Spaniard went 12 holes before making a birdie and knocked himself out of the hunt by missing a 3-foot bogey putt on No. 9. David Duval had an outside chance until making bogey on the first hole and going downhill from there. He played the weekend in 5 over, giving him his fourth consecutive top-10 finish in a U.S. Open, but nowhere closer to his first major. With those three wasting their chances and Woods already on his way home, the massive gallery sought out the only guys who seemed capable of handling Southern Hills. And what a finish they provided. Brooks surged into the lead with two birdies on the back nine, two big breaks out of the trees and hardly any mistakes until the end. He finally surrendered on the 18th, knocking his 40-foot birdie putt 8 feet by the hole, and hanging the next one on the right side of the lip. It was a bogey that Brooks figured would prove fatal. "It's unfortunate to finish with a three-putt," he said. "But I know a lot of people who have missed important putts, and I'll live to play another day." Good news for Brooks -- his day is Monday. Goosen was hardly the model of a U.S. Open champion the way he sprayed tee shots into the woods and high grass. But he refused to quit, the best trait of all in this championship, and reclaimed the lead with a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 15. Cink was quietly lurking until the biggest shot of his career -- a wedge that landed 15 feet behind the pin and spun back to 2 feet for a birdie, tying him with Goosen at 5-under.
Then they came to the 18th, perhaps the toughest closing hole in golf. None of the previous five major champions at Southern Hills had made par or better on the 18th hole. Then again, they all had a two-stroke cushion and could afford to make bogeys, leading to some anticlimatic conclusions. That wasn't the case this time. "I figured I was done," Brooks said.
The playoff starts at noon (EDT), stroke play for 18 holes in
which only one thing is certain. The trophy won't be awarded until
the last putt is in the hole.
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