By Leonard Shapiro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 17, 2007

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland, July 16 -- The sign on the side of the A92 road on the outskirts of this seaside village reads "Carnoustie -- Famous Golf Town."

But one of the most famous golfers in the history of this classic British Open links course will not be on the premises, or anywhere else in the United Kingdom this week. Jean Van de Velde has far more important matters on his mind than the triple-bogey meltdown on the 72nd hole here in 1999 that cost him the Claret Jug.

At the moment, Van de Velde, a 41-year-old from France, is undergoing tests to figure out what has been ailing him since he last played on the European Tour in April. In a conference call from France with reporters Monday, he said: "I've been diagnosed with what they call glandular fever. So that explains why I'm so tired and sometimes why I have an inflammation in some of the parts.

"I've been through quite a few tests, which made me decide to stop playing, because the physical pain was too much. . . . I will come back when I feel that I can compete again without thinking about what is going to happen with my stomach and with the vomiting and with the pain that I experience in the joints and the shoulder. After the two tournaments [in Portugal in April], I came home and I was extremely sick. I couldn't eat. Everything I was putting in my stomach was coming back out. I was sleeping 15, 16 hours a day. And then, after that, I never recuperated."

On Monday morning, Van de Velde said he was tested for bone cancer. He is scheduled for another procedure "with another big machinery" on Thursday.

"What I want to do is find out what happened to me and what can be done and needs to be addressed," he said. "I don't want to waste any time. I want to get back into shape and I want to play golf. To be really honest, I think my health is more important than playing in a golf tournament."

Eight years ago, there were far more concerns about the state of Van de Velde's mental health after he played 71 holes of brilliant golf on arguably the hardest venue in major championship history, only to blow a three-shot lead with one hole to play.

In a finish that set a standard for horrendous judgment in the crucible of a final round in a major, Van de Velde used his driver off the tee at the 18th hole (instead of a far safer 3-wood or 3-iron) and the shot sliced onto the 17th fairway.

Instead of playing his second shot back to the 18th fairway, Van de Velde went for the green, but watched his ball hit a scaffold pole on a grandstand and ricochet 50 yards back into deep rough.

His third shot from a dreadful lie then splashed into the Barry Burn, where Van de Velde took off his shoes and socks and waded in, thinking about trying to splash a fourth shot onto dry land. Impossible. So he took a penalty. His fifth shot found a greenside bunker, his blast from the sand stopped seven feet from the hole, and somehow he managed to make that putt for a 7 to get into a four-hole aggregate score playoff with American Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie of Scotland.

Lawrie birdied the final two holes of the playoff and won the championship on a day he also shot 67. During the playoff, Davis Love III came out to watch his good friend Leonard, and when he was asked how he might have played No. 18 with a three-shot lead, he said 7-iron, 7-iron, wedge to the green and three putts for a 6.

And the win.

That day, a remarkably composed Van de Velde insisted he had no regrets about how he had played the final hole. Eight years later, not much has changed.

"I've said it before and I've said it many times, [there is] one shot I [would] play again," he said. "I would have played the third [into the grandstand] differently. . . . It was playing into the breeze, it was slightly starting to rain. . . . We can go back that route and talk about it again and again and again. But that would be the shot I would replay."

Van de Velde handled all the painful questions that afternoon eight years ago with remarkable poise, patience and a "c'est la vie" sense of humor. Never mind that he botched the opportunity of a lifetime, he said again Monday, because he still had a terribly positive impact on the game back home in France.

He said when school in his home town of Mont-de-Marsan opened the following September, more than 120 children signed up to play golf. "They all wanted to try because of what happened to me," he said. "If you can inspire people and more people get inspired to play . . . this is what it's about."

Van de Velde said he was, "very sad that I'm not there" at the Open this week. Several TV networks asked him to do commentary but he decided to stay home to determine what's been making him so ill for so long.

"To some people, [golf] means everything. To other folks it's a fantastic way to express themselves and a fantastic way to make a living," he said.

"When I started golf when I was seven, it was my passion. When I was 16, 14, 12 it was my passion. I was one of the fortunate ones who has been able to make a living out of it. I've played Ryder Cup, every single competition you can imagine. So I'm very, very fortunate. And at the same time, it's not all my life. It's not what makes a Jean Van de Velde. It's part of me, but not me.

"I can promise you I will watch on TV. What right do I have to be complaining? Carnoustie, it's great . . . but there's going to be another one next week and next year, and another one the next year. I know inside me I will hopefully be able to be at another championship and maybe another major championship. I don't feel like I have the right to be complaining too much."