What looked like to be a wonderful story of redemption was torn asunder when Dennis Johnson was penalized for grounding his club in a bunker. Clearly under the rules this was the appropriate decision but I do feel for the lad. As he put it "I'm glad i didn't make that last putt" Could you imagine if he had? Everyone celebrating his victory only to be told that you grounded your club in a bunker and now incur a 2 stroke penalty.
Some will argue that this is the greatness of the game of Golf and while i may agree its still unfortunate to see as the story of redemption would have been great copy. Fair play to the eventual winner Martin Kaymer who holed a 15ft par put on the last to get in the clubhouse at 11 under and eventually wore down a brilliant Bubba Watson in the playoff but we could have so much more. In sport we wish for the story to be as great as the game we are watching. Golf has had two great chances to have huge stories dwarf the media hype over Tiger. First if Tom Watson could have pared the last hole and won a Major that would have been a story for the ages and yesterday the two story lines that nearly came to pass with Johnson's redemption from his final round 80 at The US open and the sweet swinging Steve Elkington charge that ended with a brilliant iron tumbling behind the green at 17.
This was a great golf tournament without Tiger or Phil near the top. It shows that the game is bigger then any one player and I for one think Golf will survive and thrive regardless of what happens with Tiger. Having said that if Tiger wins the Masters next year well the story may be the biggest we have had in the sport in a long long time.
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