Stewart Cink punctures Tom Watson’s Turnberry fairytale to win 2009 British Open in playoff

Like Greg Norman last year, Tom Watson couldn’t become the oldest British Open winner ever, with the Turnberry course and Stewart Cink as the last of a host of big names on the leaderboard eventually besting him.

Greg Norman also started day four of the British Open last year in sole possession of the lead, but this time it was the 59-year-old Watson who couldn’t make it stick after he fell into a four-hole playoff with Cink when they both finished on two under par.

Watson started the 18th hole of his fourth round needing only to par to win outright, but his second shot to the par four landed in rough behind the hole and the eight-time-major-winning veteran could not get up and down for the win.

On the second hole of the play off, using the last four holes of the Turnberry course, Watson birdied to take the lead, but a fateful stray tee off on the relatively easy par five 17th was the tragedy which ruined his chances.

“I don’t know if I can get it out Ox, but I reckon I’ll give it a try,” Watson said to his caddy, Philadelphia-based polticial consultant Neil Oxman. Watson’s shot from impossibly long rough couldn’t make the fairway, though, and he three-putted to take a double bogey seven.

Watson’s tee shot on the 18th then went into the crowd, drawing a curtain on the championship and leaving Cink the deserving winner. Watson told the crowd before playing his second, “The way I’m hitting it, I might hit it into you,” showing he still had a sense of humor at least.

At times during the day there were a number of single and multiple leaders, including England’s Lee Westwood and Australian Matthew Goggin. Former major winner Westwood tailed off with three bogeys and a birdie at the 17th across the last four holes, while the lesser-ranked Goggin also dropped three shots in successive holes at 14, 15 and 16 and failed to birdie the 17th.

2009 British Open full leaderboard

# Player 1 2 3 4 Today Hole Score Total 1 Stewart Cink 66 72 71 69 -1 F -2 278 2 Tom Watson 65 70 71 72 2 F -2 278 T3 Chris Wood 70 70 72 67 -3 F -1 279 T3 Lee Westwood 68 70 70 71 1 F -1 279 T5 Luke Donald 71 72 70 67 -3 F E 280 T5 Retief Goosen 67 70 71 72 2 F E 280 T5 Mathew Goggin 66 72 69 73 3 F E 280 T8 Soren Hansen 68 72 74 67 -3 F 1 281 T8 Ernie Els 69 72 72 68 -2 F 1 281 T8 Justin Leonard 70 70 73 68 -2 F 1 281 T8 Thomas Aiken 71 72 69 69 -1 F 1 281 T8 Richard S. Johnson 70 72 69 70 E F 1 281 T13 Jeff Overton 70 69 76 67 -3 F 2 282 T13 Andres Romero 68 74 73 67 -3 F 2 282 T13 Miguel Angel Jimenez 64 73 76 69 -1 F 2 282 T13 Matteo Manassero 71 70 72 69 -1 F 2 282 T13 Camilo Villegas 66 73 73 70 E F 2 282 T13 Justin Rose 69 72 71 70 E F 2 282 T13 Francesco Molinari 71 70 71 70 E F 2 282 T13 Henrik Stenson 71 70 71 70 E F 2 282 T13 Boo Weekley 67 72 72 71 1 F 2 282 T13 Thongchai Jaidee 69 72 69 72 2 F 2 282 T13 Ross Fisher 69 68 70 75 5 F 2 282 T24 Peter Hanson 70 71 72 70 E F 3 283 T24 Oliver Wilson 72 70 71 70 E F 3 283 T24 Angel Cabrera 69 70 72 72 2 F 3 283 T27 Davis Love III 69 73 73 69 -1 F 4 284 T27 Soren Kjeldsen 68 76 71 69 -1 F 4 284 T27 Mark Calcavecchia 67 69 77 71 1 F 4 284 T27 Nick Watney 71 72 71 70 E F 4 284 T27 Kenichi Kuboya 65 72 75 72 2 F 4 284 T27 James Kingston 67 71 74 72 2 F 4 284 T27 John Daly 68 72 72 72 2 F 4 284 T34 Richard Sterne 67 73 75 70 E F 5 285 T34 Martin Kaymer 69 70 74 72 2 F 5 285 T34 Graeme McDowell 68 73 71 73 3 F 5 285 T34 Jim Furyk 67 72 70 76 6 F 5 285 T38 Sergio Garcia 70 69 76 71 1 F 6 286 T38 Thomas Levet 71 73 71 71 1 F 6 286 T38 Nick Dougherty 70 70 73 73 3 F 6 286 T38 Vijay Singh 67 70 75 74 4 F 6 286 T38 Steve Marino 67 68 76 75 5 F 6 286 T43 Anthony Wall 68 72 75 72 2 F 7 287 T43 Branden Grace 67 72 73 75 5 F 7 287 T43 Paul McGinley 71 71 70 75 5 F 7 287 T43 Bryce Molder 70 73 67 77 7 F 7 287 T47 Paul Lawrie 71 73 76 68 -2 F 8 288 T47 Zach Johnson 70 71 77 70 E F 8 288 T47 Paul Casey 68 76 74 70 E F 8 288 T47 Rory McIlroy 69 74 74 71 1 F 8 288 T47 Gonzalo Fernandez-Casta 69 72 73 74 4 F 8 288 T52 Darren Clarke 71 71 78 69 -1 F 9 289 T52 Kenny Perry 71 72 75 71 1 F 9 289 T52 Graeme Storm 72 72 74 71 1 F 9 289 T52 Robert Allenby 70 74 73 72 2 F 9 289 T52 Johan Edfors 71 73 72 73 3 F 9 289 T52 Billy Mayfair 69 73 73 74 4 F 9 289 T52 David Howell 68 73 72 76 6 F 9 289 T52 Steve Stricker 66 77 70 76 6 F 9 289 T60 David Drysdale 69 73 75 73 3 F 10 290 T60 Tom Lehman 68 74 74 74 4 F 10 290 T60 Paul Broadhurst 70 72 74 74 4 F 10 290 T60 Kevin Sutherland 69 73 73 75 5 F 10 290 64 Ryuji Imada 74 69 79 69 -1 F 11 291 T65 Fredrik Andersson Hed 71 70 78 73 3 F 12 292 T65 Padraig Harrington 69 74 76 73 3 F 12 292 T65 Stuart Appleby 71 72 76 73 3 F 12 292 T65 Sean O’Hair 68 75 75 74 4 F 12 292 69 J.B. Holmes 68 70 75 80 10 F 13 293 T70 Mark O’Meara 67 77 77 74 4 F 15 295 T70 Fredrik Jacobson 70 72 77 76 6 F 15 295 72 Paul Goydos 72 72 77 82 12 F 23 303 73 Daniel Gaunt 76 67 79 82 12 F 24 304 T74 Ben Curtis 65 80 MC MC – – – 145 T74 Josh Geary 70 75 MC MC – – – 145 T74 Todd Hamilton 75 70 MC MC – – – 145 T74 Anders Hansen 68 77 MC MC – – – 145 T74 Peter Hedblom 71 74 MC MC – – – 145 T74 Charley Hoffman 71 74 MC MC – – – 145 T74 Colin Montgomerie 71 74 MC MC – – – 145 T74 Adam Scott 71 74 MC MC – – – 145 T74 D.J. Trahan 68 77 MC MC – – – 145 T74 Mike Weir 67 78 MC MC – – – 145 T74 Tiger Woods 71 74 MC MC – – – 145 T85 Briny Baird 72 74 MC MC – – – 146 T85 Peter Baker 74 72 MC MC – – – 146 T85 K.J. Choi 74 72 MC MC – – – 146 T85 Tim Clark 71 75 MC MC – – – 146 T85 Ben Crane 71 75 MC MC – – – 146 T85 Ryo Ishikawa 68 78 MC MC – – – 146 T85 Anthony Kim 73 73 MC MC – – – 146 T85 Matt Kuchar 70 76 MC MC – – – 146 T85 Martin Laird 74 72 MC MC – – – 146 T85 Louis Oosthuizen 70 76 MC MC – – – 146 T85 Elliot Saltman 70 76 MC MC – – – 146 T85 John Senden 66 80 MC MC – – – 146 T97 Mark Brown 71 76 MC MC – – – 147 T97 Rhys Davies 73 74 MC MC – – – 147 T97 James Driscoll 76 71 MC MC – – – 147 T97 David Duval 71 76 MC MC – – – 147 T97 Richard Green 71 76 MC MC – – – 147 T97 Yuta Ikeda 76 71 MC MC – – – 147 T97 Rod Pampling 74 73 MC MC – – – 147 T97 Rory Sabbatini 74 73 MC MC – – – 147 T97 Charl Schwartzel 71 76 MC MC – – – 147 T97 David Toms 72 75 MC MC – – – 147 T107 Gaganjeet Bhullar 71 77 MC MC – – – 148 T107 Markus Brier 71 77 MC MC – – – 148 T107 David Higgins 73 75 MC MC – – – 148 T107 Charles Howell III 73 75 MC MC – – – 148 T107 Raphael Jacquelin 75 73 MC MC – – – 148 T107 Sandy Lyle 75 73 MC MC – – – 148 T107 Prayad Marksaeng 73 75 MC MC – – – 148 T107 Gary Orr 73 75 MC MC – – – 148 T107 Alvaro Quiros 71 77 MC MC – – – 148 T107 Robert Rock 73 75 MC MC – – – 148 T107 Bubba Watson 73 75 MC MC – – – 148 T118 Stephen Ames 72 77 MC MC – – – 149 T118 Rafa Echenique 72 77 MC MC – – – 149 T118 Brian Gay 73 76 MC MC – – – 149 T118 Lucas Glover 72 77 MC MC – – – 149 T118 Stephan Gross Jr. 74 75 MC MC – – – 149 T118 W.C. Liang 77 72 MC MC – – – 149 T118 Richie Ramsay 77 72 MC MC – – – 149 T118 David Smail 70 79 MC MC – – – 149 T118 Brandt Snedeker 72 77 MC MC – – – 149 T118 Azuma Yano 75 74 MC MC – – – 149 T128 Chad Campbell 73 77 MC MC – – – 150 T128 Ken Duke 71 79 MC MC – – – 150 T128 Tomohiro Kondo 71 79 MC MC – – – 150 T128 Terry Pilkadaris 68 82 MC MC – – – 150 T128 Steve Surry 69 81 MC MC – – – 150 T128 Tim Wood 73 77 MC MC – – – 150 T134 Marc Cayeux 75 76 MC MC – – – 151 T134 Nick Faldo 78 73 MC MC – – – 151 T134 Richard Finch 73 78 MC MC – – – 151 T134 Jeremy Kavanagh 74 77 MC MC – – – 151 T134 Hunter Mahan 72 79 MC MC – – – 151 T134 Carl Pettersson 74 77 MC MC – – – 151 T134 Lloyd Saltman 75 76 MC MC – – – 151 T134 Tim Stewart 74 77 MC MC – – – 151 T142 Thomas Haylock 74 78 MC MC – – – 152 T142 Damien McGrane 78 74 MC MC – – – 152 T142 Greg Norman 77 75 MC MC – – – 152 T145 Geoff Ogilvy 75 78 MC MC – – – 153 T145 Bruce Vaughan 78 75 MC MC – – – 153 T147 Dustin Johnson 78 76 MC MC – – – 154 T147 Koumei Oda 76 78 MC MC – – – 154 T147 Ian Poulter 75 79 MC MC – – – 154 150 Daniel Wardrop 75 80 MC MC – – – 155 151 Michael Wright 77 79 MC MC – – – 156 152 Oliver Fisher 79 78 MC MC – – – 157 153 Pablo Larrazabal 79 81 MC MC – – – 160 154 Peter Ellebye 77 84 MC MC – – – 161 155 Jaco Ahlers 83 79 MC MC – – – 162 156 Michael Campbell 78 59 WD WD – – – 137