TEA, TIPS AND BEER WITH ERNIE
FROM Ian Baker-Finch in 1991 to Henrik Stenson last year, The Open holds so many memories for me.
I’ve drunk from the Claret Jug with Ernie Els in Muirfield’s locker room, made serious money from a wager on Padraig Harrington and listened to the best morning-after interview from John Daly.
I’ve bundled over Prince Andrew at Muirfield as we raced to the final green to see Nick Faldo elbow out John Cook to win his third and last Open.
And I have watched men crumble down the final stretch, like Frenchman Jean van de Velde who later became a firm friend.
I was at the house of Justin Rose the day after his epic final-hole chip-in as an amateur at Birkdale and been served tea and biscuits by his mum while we waited for her son to return.
But one thing I have yet to see is Lee Westwood winning a Major. And I don’t think I ever will. Which will be a sad legacy to a career that has had everything. Almost.
I was there for Lee’s debut at St Andrews in 1995, the year Daly won.
The big Californian invited the press to his hotel on the Monday and spoke about how he tried to commit suicide by driving through 10 red lights.
When that failed he was planning to drive his car off a hill when his phone rang and a friend, aware of his mental state, told him to think again.
Westwood was a friend over the years and I was on his mum and dad’s Christmas card list.
He watched me chip once then said I would be better using a seven iron, a tip I have used ever since.
He is now second only to Sir Nick Faldo in the list of England’s most prolific champions.
Westwood has always said if he doesn’t win a major then he’s had a great career. No argument with that. But he’s seen others without his talent lift golf’s biggest events and must have winced.
He has taken the unwanted title of the ‘Best Player Never to Win a Major’ from Colin Montgomerie.
He battled hard to make the cut at Royal Birkdale this week, shrugging off splits from his wife and Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler, his manager of 24 years.
And although he shot a 69 yesterday, it was not enough to get back in contention.
Irishman Padraig Harrington, who successfully defended his title at Birkdale in 2008 after winning at Carnoustie the year before, missed the cut by one shot.
Nobody was more upset than Anthony Millar, son of my colleague Steve. Anthony played in the 2004 Open at Troon and Harrington took him under his wing.
Anthony, now head pro at Ellesmere Golf Club, recalls: “He is a gentleman. He was always ready to offer advice. He is a great man on and off the course.”