Barnes’ Error Leaves Door Open

Hale Irwin’s putt to win the U.S. Senior Open didn’t really help, because by then Brian Barnes had slammed the trunk on his car and headed down the road toward Britain, where he’s probably laughing about it today with a few mates.

But not Sunday afternoon at Riviera, where the temperature was 78 degrees, with a bit of a sea breeze, and Barnes was hotter than noon in Palm Springs.

He had just finished the most unsatisfying round of 69 in his life. He had birdied 18 with a cross-country putt. He had earned $64,040.

Damn, he was angry, and in the most Anglo-Saxon of terms.

“Really, I couldn’t have given a . . . ,” he said of his round, of his putt to close it, of the addition to his bank account. “It must be . . . old age.”

What made him angry is what he learned after teeing off on the 13th hole Sunday. This was after he had birdied No. 12, and the scoreboard had him at two over par for the tournament. Nobody was better, at the moment.

“I was on a bloody roll,” Barnes said. “I could have had another birdie and had the guys behind me . . . themselves.”

And then the two became history, or rather ignominy.

He learned he was being penalized two strokes for failing to return his ball to the proper position on the 11th green before putting. He had moved his marker a club head from where his ball had stopped to allow his playing partner, Jose Maria Canizares, a better look at the cup. Barnes then failed to move the marker back to its original position before putting out.

A spectator saw it and pointed it out to John Aber, a U.S. Golf Assn. official, who reported it to another USGA guy, Mike Davis, who called Tom Meeks, director of competition, who told Davis to ask the question: “Did you move the marker back?”

“I said, ‘ . . . it, no,’ ” Barnes said, “It’s as simple as that. I suppose I was in my own world.”

The word was passed back down the line: three inches of a club head turned a par into a double-bogey. A chance to win the tournament became a gaffe of the first order. In the end, it was a $65,478.50 mistake, which was neither here nor there.

“To be that bloody stupid in a tournament of this caliber, the most important bloody tournament in senior golf. I need shooting,” said Barnes, a recovering alcoholic.

“If there’s one thing that could drive me back to . . . drink, it’s to do what I’ve done. No I won’t. Golf isn’t that important. . . . Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who think I’m a . . . because of how I came off the 18th green.”

He came off the same way he came off every green after he got the bad news: storming.

He ended up with a bogey on 13, and then, he said, “I just stood there and hammered the ball as hard as I could and hit the middle of the fairway every time. I didn’t give a . . . about anything. Never have I done anything this idiotic.

“At the end of the day, it takes me a little bit of time to cool down. In this case, it has taken 5 1/2 . . . holes. What else can I tell you? If I had someone to punch in the bloody nose, he’d still be laying there, because I’m still mad. That isn’t golf, that’s stupidity. The satisfaction [in shooting 69] is gone. After [the penalty], I might as well have shot 80.”

The anger, so much on display, was actually inwardly directed. Caddie Phil Rimm was happy to be on a different plane back home, but Barnes was--at least publicly--not casting stones.

“I’m not blaming Phil. I blame myself,” Barnes said. “It’s both our fault. Phil is my caddie and there are a few things a caddie has to do. [Reminding the player about marking the ball] is one of them. But I’m not blaming him 100%. It’s my fault as well.

“I hit the ball, I choose the club, I choose the line. It’s up to me to make sure that the ball is in the right position, it’s as simple as that.”

The anger was waning after waxing for more than an hour. Barnes is an imposing character, blacksmith arms revealed by rolled-up sleeves, and he had been waving them to ward off journalistic queries while trying to leave Riviera before cooler heads and a bit of time prevailed.

“I am a dangerous man angry, with or without a . . . golf club,” he said. “I put two lads in a hospital when I was younger.

“I don’t often get mad, but when I do, watch out. Sorry lads. Give me five minutes in the bloody car and I’ll think this is bloody fun.”

Instead of bloody unbelievable.