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 Thomas Björn's temper led to two inexcusable gaffes in the sand, including one on Sunday that resulted in the double bogey that cost him the title
By Carl Lohren
Ben Curtis probably wouldn't have won the British Open had Thomas Björn not made two shocking mental blunders in the sand at Royal St. George's. On the 17th hole on Thursday, after Björn failed to blast out of a greenside bunker, he angrily slammed his wedge into the sand, an idiotic move that carried a two-shot penalty and led to a quadruple bogey. On Sunday, while leading by two strokes, Björn again lost his composure, this time after shortsiding his approach into a greenside bunker at the par-3 16th. Björn was only 40 feet from the hole, but his ball rested in a tricky position -- on an upslope in fluffy sand, several feet below a pin that was on the crest of a hill. Forgetting to adjust for this unusual shot, Björn did not swing hard enough to account for the uphill lie, which caused his club to travel too slowly through the sand. His ball weakly flopped onto the green, then rolled back down the slope to his feet. One bad swing would have been understandable, but then Björn, instead of taking a moment to regroup, rushed his next shot and again watched it barely reach the green and trickle back into the sand (above). Luckily, Björn's ball stopped in his footprint so he had no choice but to take a very hard swing, which he should've done on the first shot. This time he hit what was, under the circumstances, a miraculous explosion to five feet and drained the putt for a 5, but it was too little too late.
Carl Lohren teaches at Ballen Isle Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and is a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher. Issue date: July 28, 2003
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Courtesy of ABC
