The Feathery (22 page)

Later, when Scott entered the locker room, Matt was busy rubbing down the grip on one of the golf clubs. Matt put it quickly in the bag and stood up to receive the bear hug he knew was coming. Scott’s eyes misted over, and that embarrassed him until he noticed that his friend, since childhood, was leaking bigger drops.

Matt indicated the bandage on his ear. "Someone doesn’t like Sherpas who wear a gold earring."
"It could’ve been worse if Bradshaw and Scotland Yard hadn’t found you," Scott said.

When they reached the practice green, gusts of wind laden with rain were causing umbrellas to attempt flight, and the force of it sprung some inside-out, rendering them useless and soon candidates for a trash barrel toss. Scott wore two cashmere sweaters under his rain suit jacket and a wool watch cap stretched down over his ears to hide most of his blond hair. Matt had the golf bag ready for the weather and was intent on protecting the club grips from the wet and keeping Scott as dry as possible in these conditions.

At the putting green, Randal Lyle beckoned Matt over to the ropes. "Knowing what you’ve been through, lad, I wouldn’t expect this storm to bother you much." Then with a smile he added, "I’d say, it’s a good thing you’re still on this side of the grass."

Scott’s eyes met Matt’s. Lyle’s philosophical remark hit home to set the tone for their day. They would play this tournament, gladly breathing the cold-wet air and laughing at the wind.

T
he same player as yesterday joined Scott on this final day of the British Open. They shook hands. The rain and wind hadn’t kept the entourage of Japanese media and Yamazaki fans away. Spotting the McEwans behind the ropes, Scott hurried over to them.

"Douglas, meet me at the pro shop tomorrow morning at ten o’clock with your dad and be ready to play a round of golf." He shook David McEwan’s hand and gave Douglas a pat on the shoulder.

Douglas’ face was flushed, and his joy may have let caution blow away in the wind. "I’ll be there for sure," he said in a loud voice. "Now, just beat the pants off of this one." He pointed at Yamazaki.

Both their drives dropped into good positions on the fairway, but against the wind they were relatively short at 235 yards. Golf shots in the strong gusts were truly laughable. Downwind, wedges were being used where eight irons would be the normal choice and against the wind it was the opposite mode in club selection. Scott was having a problem with his putts. A gust seemed to hit just as the putter head was going toward the ball. Matt reminded him to widen his stance for more stability and better balance in the wind.

When they reached the 9th, Bruce’s Castle, Yamazaki had tied Scott for the lead. The 9th tee was perched out on a rocky cliff, with a long drop to waves crashing below. Scott looked out toward the water and saw the gannets in a diving-feeding frenzy. The wind was at the player’s backs. Scott had the honors after making his second birdie of the round on the 8th. It was time to use a driver to tee off instead of a conservative two or three iron. Scott had those two drivers in his bag…one with a face angle of eight degrees and the other with ten. He pulled the ten degree driver out of he golf bag. The added loft on the face would launch the ball high to ride the wind, and the driver’s longer shaft would create more swing speed at impact than an iron or a three-wood.

Scott’s driver caught the ball perfectly and it flew off the tee, riding the gale as it soared high above a stone cairn 200 yards out in the middle of the fairway. It came to rest almost another 200 yards from that marker.

"Awesome! Could be on the green," Matt said.
Yamazaki didn’t want any part of Scott’s high altitude game. He selected a one iron for a low trajectory that put him in the fairway 270 yards out.

Scott’s ball ended up 390 yards from the 9th tee and 30 yards from the green. Scott and Yamazaki made birdies and were both still tied for the lead. The leader board showed no movement upward by the rest of the field playing in front of them, and no players were on the course in back of Beckman and Yamazake who were the last to tee off.
Scott was up by one stroke over Japan’s pride after the 16th,
Wee Burn
. The 17th,
Lang Whang
, had been Scott’s best played hole in the tournament. He’d twice made eagles there. Today, the wind was crossing right to left. He thought,
If I aim at the bunker on the right with my drive, the wind will bring the ball back to the fairway and drop it short of another bunker on the left side.
Scott followed his plan, and his three-iron drive landed close to the prescribed spot, but too far away to make the green on his second shot in the dangerous crosswind. His safe second shot lay-up set him up for a pitching wedge third that came to rest fifteen feet from the cup. But he missed his birdie putt. The Japanese was away and sunk his for a par. Scott had a 4-foot putt for par, but just as he placed the ball in front of his marker, a blast of wind moved it ten inches to his right. The marker was still in place, and it was a reflex act when he picked the ball up and moved it back to the marker.
Matt warned, "No, don’t!" But it came too late.
Yamazaki was watching Scott’s next move. If Scott would putt from where he replaced the ball behind the marker he’d be penalized two strokes. When he realized Scott wasn’t going to putt from that spot, he called the rule infraction just as Scott was about to call it on himself. Yamazake said, "now you must play ball from where it rests after it moved by wind. One-stroke penalty for you for picking ball up."
Matt nodded and shrugged his shoulders. A nearby R and A official was summoned to the green and confirmed the rule called by Yamazaki. Scott replaced the ball on the spot where the Japanese agreed the gust moved it to, and his anger caused him to miss the five-footer and score a bogie for the hole. With the one-stroke penalty added, it was a two stroke swing in Yamazaki’s favor. He was one stroke up on Scott with only the 18th hole left to play.
They walked off the green. Scott was shattered by his mistake. The excitement among the Japanese crowd was now near pandemonium. Matt waited for the noise to die down before he took Scott aside near the water jug on the eighteenth tee.
"Okay, Scott, put it behind you and play this hole aggressively," Matt said.
Scott took in a large pull of air. "I blew it and feel stupid for not reacting to the rule and calling it before Yamazake.

"Matt put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. "Don’t be. Half the pros on tour don’t know that rule. Let’s play eighteen and forget rule number eighteen dash two."
Scott muttered, "Smart ass caddie." They both smiled and some of their tension eased.
Yamazaki’s three-wood drive split the fairway and landed 282 yards from the tee. The Japanese in the gallery voiced their approval and their hero’s grin smacked with a premature taste of victory.
Scott tried to put the disaster on 17 out of his mind and focused on what he had to do. He stood behind his teed ball, looking down the fairway and thought,
Par four, slight dogleg right, 430 yards to the green
;
need a three to get in a playoff…if Yamazaki makes four. I’ve got to hit driver here. An iron won’t get it done.
He hesitated and looked toward the crowd for a moment where Douglas McEwan was gesturing with his arm pointing down the fairway with a signal that meant Scott’s drive had to be a boomer in order to tuck a second shot in close to the pin for the birdie putt. But the player and his regular caddie already knew that.

Matt handed Scott the 10-degree driver. The wind was crossing the fairway right to left, as on 17, but a safe shot here was out of the question. He set up for a fade that would cut the dogleg, hoping the fading ball would be held back by the crosswind so it wouldn’t go too far right and end up in the rough composed of high heather.
Scott swung, and his Linksking driver head contacted the Titleist Pro V1x at 123 miles per hour with every bit of its trampoline effect kicking in. The ball streaked off the tee, took the cut at the dogleg and landed center fairway only 68 yards from the flag. It was a monster drive of 372 yards. Scott’s relatively small following emitted most of the cheering heard around the 18th tee. The Japanese entourage was silent.
Yamazaki walked up to his ball. It was 90 yards behind Scott’s and 158 yards from the pin.
Matt whispered to Scott, "Yamazaki is thinking he needs a three to win it. He’ll try to stick it in close, but if he’s just a little long, he’ll catch the downslope and be looking at a twenty-footer."
Yamazaki’s high eight-iron shot looked like it was headed for the flag all the way, and in the bleachers a premature roar was emitted from his large home-island crowd. Then came a chorus of deep guttural groans an instant after the ball scooted beyond the flag. And without enough backspin it rolled slowly down the sloped green toward a collection area, coming to rest 17 feet from the cup.
Matt handed Scott his lob wedge and some advice. "I want you to visualize this shot landing past the stick about four feet, and the backspin provided by the lob wedge should bring the ball away from the slope that grabbed Yamazaki’s ball. You’ll have a short putt to make a play-off."
Scott gripped the club. The most important shot of his life would be made with a golf club given to him by Sandy McNair.
Was it an omen?
He stood behind the ball for a few seconds, envisioning the shot Matt suggested. After three practice swings, he was ready. The 60-degree lob wedge made good contact as the ball was pinched between club edge and turf. It flew high, spun rapidly counter-clockwise, then started down on a line to the right of the flag. Scott held his follow-through while watching the wind bring the ball left. It landed a little beyond the flag, and what he saw next was like a slow motion dream. The golf ball seemed to stop for a second before the backspin initiated by the grooves in the wedge brought it toward the hole, where it disappeared.
A tremendous roar rose from the thousands surrounding the 18th. The volume and duration of the din meant only one thing…Scott’s slowmotion dream shot was real. His ball was in the cup for a two, and Yamazaki would have to sink his putt for a play-off. Scott kissed the shaft of the lob wedge on the spot where his name was inscribed. He then looked up at the cloudy sky and gave his thanks to Sandy McNair.
The massive walking gallery rushed to stake out their position around the green. It took a number of Randal Lyle’s finest to escort the players there where a loud ovation welcomed them. Scott retrieved his ball from the cup and held it high, initiating another loud burst of cheering from the gallery as an acknowledgment for his eagle.
It was five minutes before the crowd settled down. Yamazaki took his time, and he stared at the hole from every angle. His caddie stood behind him and gave his opinion of the proper line for the putt to travel. There was an animated discussion between them about the break. Scott stood off to the side beside Matt with arms folded. The crowd was hushed.
Yamazaki stared at the hole for the last time and drew back his putter blade. A smooth swing of the club brought its face square to the ball and contact was made. The gallery was quiet until that inevitable loud and premature prediction heard at each golf event was exclaimed: "IT’S IN THE HOLE!" The ball was rolling ten inches away and looking good when a minuscule jump to the right spoiled that wrong prediction by the fan when a spike mark altered the ball’s course ever so slightly to make it pass over the right edge of the cup and stop three inches beyond.
A moan of disappointment came from Yamazaki’s countrymen as he dropped to his knees and stayed there for a long time. After a while he stood up slowly, and Japan’s hope walked up to the ball and tapped it in for a par, and a second place finish in the British Open. Polite applause followed the tap in, and Japanese fan and media disappointment permeated the air over Turnberry.
Matt confirmed Scott’s stunned realization when he met him with a hug that lifted his friend off the green. "Scott, we just won the British Open."
Scott shook hands with Yamazaki and his caddie.
Kuniaki Yamazaki patted Scott on the back while smiling and said, "perhaps we meet again at the Masters."
"Yes, we’ll both be there, Kuniaki." Scott said, knowing they’d qualified for the Masters based on their Open finish.
Then Scott was off the green, headed for the scorer’s building where he would carefully check a scorecard that included a penalty stroke and an eagle.
Beth Sweeney, Randal Lyle, Mark Breen of Linksking, Derrick Small, Bob Bray, Claudio and both McEwans formed a corridor of congratulations on the way to the official’s building. Scott walked through the row of friends receiving a mixture of exuberant high fives, hugs and handshakes.
A helicopter passed low over the course. Scott’s pent-up emotion of the last two days came to the surface when he thought of his father. Tears welled up and a few of them spilled onto Beth’s rain suit as he held her close.

After the scorecards were checked and signed, Beckman and Yamazaki were escorted to the presentation ceremony. Scott inhaled deeply before looking up at a mostly gray sky just starting to show a little blue out by the dark granite outline of Ailsa Craig. The island had escaped from the clouds to once more dominate the western horizon.

The official engraver inscribed SCOTT BECKMAN on the Claret Jug immediately after Yamazaki missed the putt on the 18th. The Royal and Ancient would retain the original Claret Jug with the names of all the Open Championship winners since 1872 engraved on it. A replica of the trophy was presented to Scott along with the winner’s check in pounds sterling…equivalent to $1,567,000. Scott accepted the trophy and the check with a short speech thanking his caddie, and then mentioned Sandy McNair, followed by others who’d helped him to get there.