OMG

OK, it's too early to get excited, and this probably won't last, but Tom Watson is in the lead at the Masters. He's in the clubhouse with a 67. That's only 7 more than his age!

It was amazing enough that he came within a whisker of winning last year's British Open -- and that's a tournament where skill in battling the elements is more important than length off the tee. The Masters requires length.

Once again, it's time to get inspired. If a 60-year-old man can be in the clubhouse leading the Masters, surely there's time for me to learn how to play golf.

Update: OMG2! Now 50-year-old Fred Couples is in the lead, with 60-year-old Tom Watson tied for second!

Unanswered Questions Indeed

As the news reports, there are "plenty of questions" after Tiger Woods got in a car crash that sent him to the hospital. According to the story, Tiger hit a fire hydrant and a tree right near his own driveway, and his wife Elin had to smash a rear window with a golf club to get him out.

But the story is asking the wrong questions. "Where was he going at 2:25 am Friday? Why was there no word from the Woods' camp for nearly 13 hours?" That's not what golfers want to know. There's only one question on golfers' minds:

What club did she use?

Oh, So Close

Middle-aged duffers everywhere groaned in dismay as Tom Watson's par putt slid away from the hole on number 18. He played so well for 71 holes. It would have been an amazing display of skill and sang froid for a golfer of any age. For most of the day, it was easy to forget that Watson was not just another top golfer in the mix, but a 59-year-old who by all rights and expectations shouldn't have made the cut, much less been atop the leaderboard. His steady play and spirit, including his recovery from bad holes, was inspirational. While younger golfers spun out of control in the rough (including Ross Fisher, who never recovered from a devasting quadruple bogey), Watson plodded on.

And all he needed to do was par the last hole. Just one more hole! But that's when your nerves get to you. Of course most golfers would hardly have been able to swing the club at all, much less produce such a fine drive as Watson did on 18, much less follow it up with an almost equally fine approach. And Watson did.

But then it slipped away. He couldn't get up and down. His final par putt was his poorest effort of the day. You could really see his tension and tentativeness.

After that, it was all over. Only Watson's shell showed up for the playoff. Finally, after bearing up under unimaginable pressure for 72 holes, he was physically and mentally spent. I'm sure he was replaying that par putt over and over again in his mind while his body went through the motions of making shots. He finished six back in a four-hole playoff. That wasn't the same player who played the first four rounds.

Oh, well. He came in second -- and who would have expected that four days ago? It's still an inspiration to older golfers everywhere. There might still be time for me to learn how to play.

OMG

OK, this is too incredible. 59-year-old Tom Watson is leading the open after three rounds.

Anyone can have one great round. But you don't just happen to be in the lead after three rounds. This is truly amazing. He won the Open thirty-two years ago and now he's in the lead with one round to go.

Mr. Watson, you are inspiring middle-aged golfers across the globe. Keep it up! One more round! Go Tom!!

Age Does Not Wither

OK, it was impressive enough when 40-something Kenny Perry almost won the Masters earlier this year, but now Tom Watson was leading the Open Championship at age 59. He's a stroke back right now, but he had the lead for over seven hours yesterday.

Heavens! Maybe there's still time for me to learn how to play golf!

Pros Acting Irrationally

Fascinating article in yesterday's NY Times: a study of over 1.6 million putts made by professional golfers shows that the pros are slightly more likely to make a par putt than to make a birdie putt of identical length. The study's authors believe that the data demonstrate the psychological phenomenon of "loss aversion": golfers try harder on par putts because they don't want to lose a stroke to par; whereas on birdie putts they have the psychological comfort of knowing that if they miss they can still make par.

The study is fascinating because it shows golfers acting irrationally. The golfer's goal is to do as well as possible in the tournament, and this goal is backed up by a large financial incentive. Whether a stroke is for birdie or par is irrelevant to the golfer's best strategy for the stroke. The study controlled for relevant factors, such as the golfer's current position in the tournament or the number of holes remaining. But the number of strokes taken on the hole so far and the relationship between that number and par are irrelevant -- a stroke is a stroke whether it's for birdie, par, or double bogey.

One expects casual players to make strategic misjudgments, just as a casual poker player will fall for the "sunk cost" fallacy and tend to stay in a pot to "protect" the amount he's bet so far, even though paying attention to that irrelevant figure may cause him to throw good money after bad. But professional poker players should be keenly aware of and should know how to avoid that error. Similarly, economists would predict that, with the big sums at stake, professional golfers would act rationally and learn to overcome the psychological pressures identified in this study. But they apparently don't. Humans befuddle economists again.

Bloody Good Try

Norman didn't win, but he did come in tied for third. His last round was a disappointing 77, but he still had an incredible week, and I'm none the less inspried. Bloody good try, Greg, you gave us middle-aged hackers quite a thrill.

Back to more normal topics tomorrow.

Surge of the Middle-Aged

I knew it was too good to be true that Greg Norman was actually leading the British Open almost through the end of the second round -- at the close of play he's one stroke back. But my goodness, the man's 53! He won the Open in 1986!

And don't forget Rocco Mediate -- the 45-year-old, who was second at the U.S. Open in a playoff, is just 3 strokes back.

If these guys can compete at the highest levels, perhaps I can still learn to play.

C'mon Greg, c'mon Rocco! Middle-aged guys everywhere are rooting for you.

Are You a Golfer?

Are you a golfer? Take this simple test:

The Associated Press reports that "a man who lost his ball in a golf course pond nearly lost a limb when a nearly 11-foot alligator latched on to his arm and pulled him in the water."

Fortunately, the man was able to beat the alligator off with a golf club.

If you are not a golfer, your first thought on reading this story was, "oh my God, how scary!"

If you are a golfer, your first thought was, "what club did he use?"

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[P.S.: Sadly, I had to alter one critical detail in the above story. The man did not beat the alligator off with a golf club. He used his left arm. But the important thing is the test. We can't wait for the perfect story.]

Last Cliche Running

Isn't it kind of insulting to refer to Angel Cabrera as the "Last Man Standing" at the U.S. Open? That suggests he won only because everyone else screwed up.

Look, the man broke par twice in four rounds, had a round of 1-over and a round of 6-over, to finish at 5-over, on a course where half the field was 11-over or worse in the first two rounds. He beat last year's champion by 14 strokes. He held off Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, and all the rest. I say, more power to him.

WaPo's headline is kinder: "Cabrera Rises Above Field."

Tough Year at the Masters

It's the weekend, so we get to relax and think about golf.

With the third round of play almost complete, the leader at the Masters tournament is one over par. Tiger Woods's score of +3 puts him in fourth place.

I am eminently unqualified to offer an opinion about this topic -- I've been seen hitting a ball around the course, but it would be an exaggeration to call anything I do "playing golf" -- but it seems to me that Augusta is setting the course up to be too hard. The official reason for the recent course changes is that Bobby Jones meant for players to use a mid-iron or a long iron for their second shot on many holes, and today's longer distance means that many of the players were getting around the course with nothing but a driver and a wedge. So Augusta has had to lengthen and toughen many of the holes.

All very sensible, but still, the club should remember that the tournament is a show and that people want to be entertained in a certain way. Just as baseball is best when the average combined score in each game is about 9 runs, a golf tournament is best when the top players can make some (but not too many) birdies and an occasional eagle and have a decent shot at breaking par at the end of the day. The U.S. Open, of course, is famous for attempting to set up the course so that only the leader breaks par, but other tournaments shouldn't be emulating this goal. Each day's leader should be shooting about 67 or 68, with lower scores occurring on days when conditions are favorable.

Part of Masters lore is that no player has ever put together four rounds in the 60s. It's not ever going to happen if the club keeps the harsh course setup.