Notebook: Flawed finish at Turnberry bothers Westwood
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
AKRON, Ohio -- Lee Westwood admits to a having a pretty sleepless night on Sunday after he finished third in the 138th Open Championship.
The Englishman had led much of the final round at Turnberry before making bogey on three of his last four holes -- including the 72nd where he rammed a 60-footer for a birdie he thought he needed 10 feet by the cup. Turns out, a par would have put him in the playoff with Stewart Cink and Tom Watson.
Westwood had a similar situation at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines last year where he missed a 15-footer on the final hole that would have enabled him to join Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate in the 18-hole playoff on Monday. What happened at Turnberry hurt worse, though.
"Simply it's the most important tournament in the world to me, so having felt like I should have won that event, I was obviously for a couple of days in the situation where I was sort of second guessing myself and thinking, what if I would have done this and what if I would have done this, and it was a lot of ifs and buts for a couple of days," Westwood said.
"But once you get past that stage, I have to use it as a positive. I came very close to winning what for me is the biggest tournament, the most important tournament in the world. I have to take all that into a positive and take the confidence I can draw from that for the rest of the season and firstly these two weeks."
Westwood returns to competition this week at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, where he tied for second last year. He spent part of his break traveling around England and speaking to kids at the youth golf academies he has set up.
"It was interesting, some of the questions that came out," Westwood said, noting that an 8-year-old wanted to know whether his tan was real or fake. But there were other more serious queries like why did he hit the first putt at the 72nd hole so hard?
"So that will bring you down to earth with a pretty big bump. My son was one of the best walking off the 18th green. I was pretty deflated afterwards. He said, 'Dad, you did really well. You finished third.' So there you go."
Even though his son was proud of Westwood, a win at Firestone could do a lot to put the affable Englishman in a good frame of mind.
"Winning a World Golf Championships would mean an awful lot," he acknowledged. "... You want to win one of the four majors first, and then the World Golf Championships would be just a slight step down from that. They're massive tournaments."
IT DOUBLES AS A TROPHY: For the record, the Claret Jug holds about two-and-a-half pints, and the first thing Stewart Cink drank out of it was Guinness. His two teenage sons got the second choice -- which was Coca-Cola -- "because we wouldn't let them drink beer or champagne," the Open champ said.
"We put Guinness in it, there's been Harp in there, there's been some wine in there," Cink said. "It's been busy. It was busy for the first couple days, for the first week or so when we were home and then it's been much quieter since then."
The Claret Jug has made two public outings since Cink and his family returned to Atlanta and "both times the response was almost overwhelming, to the point where I felt like I needed to somewhat protect it," he said.
The second, in particular, which was held at one of his favorite restaurants, New York Prime, was quite festive. Cink said it's a little more of a bar scene and it was "almost mayhem" when he and his friends arrived with the Claret Jug.
"There were a lot of people that wanted to take a sip out of it and get a picture made, and we accommodated I think everyone that was there," Cink said, estimating the crowd at 75 people. "We stayed around for a few hours doing nothing but that."
One of Cink's friends was in charge of going back and forth to the bar and refilling the Claret Jug. "Come to think of it, I don't even know where the tab went on that," Cink said with a smile.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS: Cink came to Firestone this week relaxed and fresh from a six-day vacation in Glacier National State Park. He and his friends hiked about 40 miles through the mountains. They also went whitewater rafting.
The Claret Jug stayed at Cink's Atlanta home. That doesn't mean Cink wasn't recognized in restaurants, bars and shops in the park's many little villages. He got a few chuckles out of what the fans had to say.
"I know that most people were rooting for Tom Watson because of the sentimental value of the story," Cink said. "That's understandable. Some of the comments have been pretty funny about, 'I was rooting for Tom, but when it looked like you were going to win, I was really behind you.' That's all very understandable, totally. I get a kick out of that. It was no surprise.
"It was nice to hear they were actually pulling for me at some point."
MEETING ARNIE: Paul Casey remembers being in awe when he first met the Arnold Palmer, who celebrates his 80th birthday on Sept. 10. At 32, the Englishman hardly saw the King in his prime, but he's well acquainted with the legend so the meeting in 2004 was special.
"I'm not one for getting wrapped up in sort of celebrities or famous people, but there is something very strange when you meet Mr. Palmer, the King," Casey, who is ranked No. 3 in the world, said. "What do you say? What do you do? What do you call him? It's a bit like royalty. What do you do?
"What's the protocol? And how do you say sort of, "I'm a huge fan of yours," without looking like a bit of an idiot? I guess you just do it, you just say, pleasure to sort of meet you, and that's basically what I did."
©1995–2009 PGA TOUR, Inc. | Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PGA TOUR,
Champions Tour, Nationwide Tour, and the swinging golfer logo are registered trademarks.
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network