Cool Hand Lucas

The championship was saved, as most tournaments are, by the compelling theater of the golf itself. There was Sean O'Hair, who used to tool around mini-tours in a 40-foot RV, in weekend contention while his wife, Jaclyn, was expecting the couple's third child. And Duval, who entered the week ranked 882nd in the world, making a bold reentry into major championship golf. And Barnes, his big brother on the bag, carding 13 birdies and an eagle while playing in a painter's hat.

Glover, who like Barnes had to survive a 36-hole sectional qualifier to get into the Open, wasn't without support. Over the championship's final few days he started receiving text messages from Harmon's family. He also got a surprise visit from two cousins and a friend who drove all night on Sunday from Boone, N.C., and arrived 10 minutes before the resumption of the final round. "We bought tickets on eBay for $40 apiece off a guy in New Jersey," said Billy Johnson, a cousin from High Point, N.C. "We told ourselves yesterday that if Lucas was within three shots of the lead, we were coming."

Late last year, his PGA Tour card already secured for 2009, Glover took seven weeks off, frustrated that his only Tour victory was the Funai Classic in 2005. Glover said he learned that happiness isn't based upon the circles and squares on a scorecard, and that patience in golf is everything. "Two years ago, no chance I would be sitting here," said Glover, a silver trophy at his side, his long, wet week on working-class Long Island an unqualified success.