Carnoustie = Jean Van de Velde
A simple game of word association will forever link the two. Who get forget his abomination of the 18th hole during the 1999 British Open held in Carnoustie, Scotland, site of this year's Open Championship. Needing merely a double-bogey 6 to win, Van de Velde's walk home went as follows:
1st stroke
Hits driver off the tee. Ball lands in far right rough.
2nd stroke
Goes for the green with a 2-iron, caroms off grandstand and 50 yards back into knee-deep rough.
3rd stroke
Club gets tangled in the rough and ball flies into the Barry Burn. After wading into the burn, decides to take a drop.
4th stroke
Drop
5th stroke
Hits it poorly and short of the green. Ball lands in a bunker.
6th stroke
Blasts the ball onto the green to about six feet.
7th stroke
Makes the putt for a triple-bogey 7, forcing a three-way, four-hole playoff with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie.
The Frenchman would obviously go on to lose, finishing what I'd consider the least clutch moment in all of sports. Following the collapse, a golf analyst suggested that he could have used a putter and scored better.
Being a great sport, Van de Velde gave it a shot. Enjoy.
Ailing Van de Velde 'Sad' He Won't Return to Carnoustie (USA Today)
Van de Velde Continuing to Handle Meltdown With Grace (Sportsline)
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