Interesting Mix Provides Major Entertainment

Over the last four days on the west coast of England, an encouraging new formula was discovered for highly entertaining professional golf without the presence of an injured You Know Who.

That would be: Greg Norman + Chris Evert = Tiger Woods.

Most of the pre-tournament talk at the 137th British Open last week at Royal Birkdale involved media and player comment that perhaps this year's Open and next month's PGA Championship would somehow be tainted by Woods absence as he recovers from a surgically repaired knee. But the only asterisk necessary on the Claret Jug next to champion Padraig Harrington's name would be this:

***Prevailed in the toughest conditions of wind and rain over all four days in recent memory.

Without Woods in the field, the tournament was a success in every way, with a riveting duel down the stretch between a swashbuckling old golfing legend and an engaging and extremely popular young Irishman with more majors likely to come.

The event surpassed the attendance figure of its last appearance at Birkdale in 1998 by several thousand, with more than 40,000 showing up on the weekend and over 200,000 spectators for the week. The television ratings also held up, both in England and the United States, in large part because of Norman's very surprising presence on the leader board from the very start.

Oh what a lovely story The Shark and his new bride Chrissie very nearly completed during their honeymoon trip to the Open. On Sunday, Norman was tied for the lead with seven holes to play and threatening to become, at age 53, the oldest major champion by five years in the history of golf.

Then along came Paddy to write his own dramatic tale, becoming the first European since James Braid in 1906 to successfully defend his British Open title while also reinforcing an old bromide that players at the highest level of the game have been spouting forever.

"Beware the wounded golfer," it goes, and for proof positive, recall Woods prevailing last month in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines playing essentially on one good leg, and Harrington capturing the Claret Jug four weeks later with a sore right wrist that made him wonder the day before the tournament if he could manage to get through all 72 holes.

His sports psychologist, Bob Rotella of the University of Virginia, convinced him he could play through the pain, and Harrington said the injury might actually have helped his preparation. He played only nine holes during the three practice days as opposed to his normal routine of three 18-hole sessions Monday through Wednesday. As a result, he said, he felt fresh all during the tournament, played in wicked wind every day, and never did feel any pain from his wrist.

"The wrist injury was a saver for me, really," he said. "It took a lot of pressure off me, a lot of stress off me. It was a good distraction to have."

Norman had come to Birkdale with no stress, no pressure and certainly no expectations at all. He simply thought some tournament experience might help him immensely this week at the Senior British Open at Royal Troon. He very nearly didn't even enter until Evert convinced him it might be wise to use the week to prepare for the senior tournament.