It's Still a Heck of a Story for Tom Watson

Tom Watson was a putt away from becoming the biggest sports story of 2009.

Watson would have become the oldest golfer to win a major championship. He is less than two months shy of his 60th birthday. If he had won the Open Championship it would have been his first major since winning the Open Championship in 1983.

But he didn't sink that final putt and it forced him into a playoff with Stewart Cink who had never before won a major championship on the PGA Tour. Cink won the four hole playoff and the Open Championship by six strokes.

I remember when Jack Nicklaus won the Masters in 1986 at the age of 46. That was unbelievable. But a Watson win this weekend would have literally been one for the ages. It would have also been the sixth time he had won the Open Championship.

Watson himself said it best, "It would have been a heck of a story, wouldn't it?"

Yet it was a heck of story. How often does Tiger Woods not make the cut? How often do older athletes get a chance to return to their prime? What a thrill it was for the fans to see Tom Watson at the top of his game. Even if Tom Watson came up short for a few days he was the best golfer in the world again.