MarathonMike
Diamond Member
Jean Van De Velde played like a genius in the 1999 Open and held a 3 shot lead going to the last hole. I remember it really well I was watching with my son who was barely old enough to understand sports at the time. On the 18th hole, he stepped on the tee and pulled out his driver at which point I yelled at the TV "WTF are you doing???? My son looked at me with big eyes and I said sorry, the man is doing something crazy. Van De Velde proceeded to explore every hazard on the hole climbing into the creek, the rough, the bunker. If there were a car parked on the hole he probably would have played a shot from the trunk. He still managed to get into a playoff but lost. I don't think he choked, It really looked like he just didn't want it.
I've read about him and he was and is a very happy go lucky, jokester kind of guy. Becoming an Open Champion comes with a lot of responsibility and is massively life changing. I think when he got to that last hole and pulled out driver, he was listening to that voice in the back of his head saying "Hey man we don't need this, we got a great life! Let's go out with bang."
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I've read about him and he was and is a very happy go lucky, jokester kind of guy. Becoming an Open Champion comes with a lot of responsibility and is massively life changing. I think when he got to that last hole and pulled out driver, he was listening to that voice in the back of his head saying "Hey man we don't need this, we got a great life! Let's go out with bang."
How Jean van de Velde famously threw away The Open
Jean van de Velde's collapse at Carnoustie in 1999 will go down as one of the biggest meltdowns in sports history. With The Open back at Carnoustie, we relive the mess.
