Van de Velde Plunges Ahead

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland —  The lasting image of the 1999 British Open will forever be Jean Van de Velde, pants rolled up, hands on his hips, ankle deep in the creek on the 18th hole at Carnoustie, watching his chance at golf immortality wash away.

Well, Van de Velde is back for another dose of reality-based British Open experiences, but still tethered to his Carnoustie debacle.

Van de Velde had a three-shot lead on the 72nd hole, but he made a triple-bogey seven that included a drive that just missed going in the water, a second shot that bounced off the grandstand and an approach shot from high rough that landed in the water.

Instead of the greatest victory in a nondescript career, Van de Velde achieved ignominy and defeat instead, losing to eventual champion Paul Lawrie and Justin Leonard in a four-hole playoff.

But the Frenchman never lost his sense of humor.

“I’m very happy to be back,” Van de Velde said. “The grandstand is on the other side from last year.”

Van de Velde said his professional career has changed since Carnoustie, which meant he played in all the majors as well as the Ryder Cup.

“And basically doing a few more interviews here and there, a couple of thousand, and except that, nothing has really changed,” he said. “Still going home and getting shouted at by my wife, that’s it.”

Van de Velde could have played it safe on the last hole, but didn’t. He was asked what he would do differently if he had the chance.

“Probably hit a putter off the tee,” he said.

And what was the biggest mistake at the 18th?

“I think rolling my trousers up because it did not look very good,” he said.

Van de Velde said he made his choices and paid the price for it. But it was only a golf tournament, nothing more, he said.

“I knew I was going to have to talk about it for 10 years,” he said. “But I reckon it is probably another nine years now. And once I am retired, it will be good enough and nobody will talk about it anymore.”

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According to SportingOdds.com, the odds on Tiger Woods winning by more than five strokes is 12-1.

The odds are 33-1 that Van de Velde will make a triple bogey or more on the 18th.

The odds are 25-1 that Woods will miss the cut.

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How firm is the playing surface at the Old Course? The fairways and the greens are hard enough, but Vijay Singh says that’s not all. “The practice green is almost as hard as concrete,” he said.

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Headline of the week: The early leader is The Daily Mail’s offering on John Daly: “I Was Like a Lab Rat Stuffed With Pills.”

Daly, of course, is the last Open champion from St. Andrews, but his victory here in 1995 was his last tournament title. While Daly is still trying to pull his golf game together, the same can be said for his addictive personality. “I could go out and lose everything by gambling and drinking,” he said. “There is no sense in denying it. It is in my blood. I want to gamble and I want to have a few drinks now and then. But I am not an alcoholic. I do not drink every day. I have four at the most when I go out and get a 12-pack at home.”

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There were a record 2,465 entries for the Open, 44 of them from qualifying. David Sutherland and Manny Zerman were the only U.S. players who made it through qualifying.