By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Well meaning, a member of our foursome and a clubhouse fixture unintentionally ruined a grand plan to watch five-plus hours of the British Open with a finger on the skip fwd button for commercials.
Out of play on the ninth hole, the first saboteur made a beeline for the pro shop and arrived at the 10th tee with word that Darren Clarke was minus six. His thank you was a double shush.
After the round ended and before a prohibition against British Open updates could be invoked, the municipal course regular in front of the TV announced that Clarke was minus seven.
Barely in the door at home, TV captured the jubilation of the crowd that said Clarke was comfortably ahead.
The final scores made it appear that Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson played well enough, but couldn’t catch Clarke. Only on rewind did it become clear that the two Americans backed off badly on the second nine, allowing Clarke to enjoy the final hour of his stroll around Royal St. George’s.
Maybe Mickelson and Johnson, all snug and warm in their outdoor gear, were awed by Clarke in short sleeves in the same way that Green Bay linemen intimidate when the Packers have a home game in December.
Ten holes deep in the round, Mickelson was six under and right with Clarke.
In the booth, Paul Azinger set up Mickelson’s short par putt on No. 11 by pointing out that both Mickelson and Clarke had missed some of that length during the tournament. On cue, Mickelson’s putt lipped out.
“He rushed that,” Azinger said. “No question about it.”
After that, Mickelson hit a sloppy shot from the fairway on No. 13, babied a short birdie putt on No. 14, and three-putted No. 15.
Bye-bye Phil.
Standing on the 14th tee, the long-hitting Johnson was still in it, trailing by two with a par-five in front of him. From the fairway, Johnson’s 2-iron second shot was so far right of the white out-of-bounds stakes that nobody bothered to look for the ball.
Double bogey seven. Get to work Garry Harvey, engraver of the Claret Jug.
The day before, Rory McIlroy drove it O.B. on that same hole and said, “ … you’ve got half of Kent on your left and you hit it right.”
In our group, the perpetrator would have condemned himself with a “No-playing weasel.”
Johnson didn’t offer much except that if he had it to do over again, he would have hit a 3-wood. At least Mickelson was forthright, calling the putt at 11 a stupid mistake.
Playing in the final pairing for the third time in the last six majors, Johnson added to his list of final-round failures. He said Saturday he would be comfortable because he knew what to expect, but his near shankapotamus was a horrible error.
In the 2010 U.S. Open, he started Sunday with a three-shot lead and shot 82. In the 2010 PGA, he failed to recognize a sand trap despite pre-tournament warnings.
Although nobody remembers who tied for fifth, Americans did well in the British, claiming five of the top seven spots, including three by players in their 20s.
But, Clarke is the sixth straight non-American to win a major and the only major remaining in 2011 is next month in Atlanta. Maybe the foreigner players will wilt in the summer heat.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
