A Tie for Father’s Day

Retief Goosen and Mark Brooks are headed for an 18-hole playoff today to decide the 101st U.S. Open championship because three of the world’s most outstanding golfers, we presumed, couldn’t make par on the final hole.

Paul Azinger said: “It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in watching sports.”

Stewart Cink said: “I’m stunned beyond words.”

Rocco Mediate said: “I was sick to my stomach.”

NBC must have said: We’ve got to cut into Monday daytime programming for this?

Blame it on the yips.

Blame it on the bogey man.

Blame it on Rio if it suits you.

Where was Tiger Woods to close this major deal when we needed him?

(Answer: three-over par, tied for 12th).

Sunday’s final round at Southern Hills had seemingly reached a logical and exciting conclusion at the 466-yard, par-four closing hole.

Goosen and Cink started the 72nd hole tied for the lead at five under.

Brooks already had bogeyed No. 18, hanging an eight-foot putt for par on the lip, which dropped him to four-under 276.

He was back in the clubhouse packing laundry. Seriously.

“Shocking,” Brooks said of what unfolded next. “I figured it was over. No question. And it probably should have been.”

Goosen and Cink blasted beautiful drives on 18, but Cink’s second shot flew the green into the rough. Goosen knocked his shot within eight feet of the pin.

Cink chipped to within 15 feet, but his par putt slid just left of the cup.

He missed the comebacker and three-putted for double-bogey six to finish the tournament minus-three 277.

So there it was.

Goosen, a nice chap from South Africa who held at least a share of the lead after all three rounds, needed to two-putt from eight feet to win the championship.

But Goosen goosed it. He knocked his birdie putt past the hole and was left with a ticklish two-footer.

“When I hit it I knew I hit it a little too hard,” Goosen said of the first putt.

No sweat, right? These guys are pros.

There was sweat.

Incredibly, Goosen botched his par putt to push him into a tie with Brooks at four-under 276.

“I felt pretty calm on it,” Goosen said of the second.

Get this: another Goosen yip would have handed Brooks the title outright as he was giving his claim check to the kid in valet parking.

“The harder putt was the third putt, yeah,” he said.

Goosen salvaged bogey to force the playoff.

“What am I going to do?” Goosen asked. “Obviously, I’m not going to go and jump out my hotel room.”

The collective bogey-choke at No. 18 by Brooks, Cink and Goosen will rank with Jean Van de Velde’s collapse on the final hole of the 1999 British Open, which handed the title to Paul Lawrie.

But that was one Frenchman.

This was a three-way wreck.

The guy yanking what hair he has left is Cink, who could have made it a three-man playoff had he only bogeyed No. 18.

“I took me a while to realize that I had lost the chance to be in a playoff too,” Cink said of Goosen’s final-hole bogey.

Cink said he was too busy feeling sorry for Goosen.

“It’s something that can wreck your confidence,” Cink said, “but it’s also fairly embarrassing. It’s a major championship.”

What about Cink’s confidence?

“No,” Cink said, “I’m not worried about mine.”

Let’s be clear: No. 18 at Southern Hills is one of the toughest finishing holes in golf, a 466-yard dogleg right that requires a down-lie second shot to an uphill green.

Balls were running off the green so frequently in practice rounds that the USGA let the grass grow to soften the landing.

Still, No. 18 played toughest through four rounds with an average score of 4.441.

So there you have it. Instead of crowning Goosen champion, we are left to housecleaning.

The U.S. Open is the only major that conducts an 18-hole playoff. The last was 1994, when Ernie Els defeated Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie at Oakmont Country Club.

Should Goosen and Brooks remain tied after 18 holes today, play would return to No. 18 for sudden death.

The particulars were these: Brooks shot even-par 70 Sunday and finished 72-64-70-70 for a total of four-under 276.

Goosen ended up one-over 71 and was 66-70-69-71 in regulation.

Cink sunk to third with 69-69-67-72 for a total of three-under 277.

Mediate, in contention most of Sunday, finished 71-68-67-72 for a total of two-under 278.

Tom Kite, 51, shot a remarkable final round 64 and ended up tied for fifth with Azinger at one-over 281.

Woods never got himself into contention. He shot a second consecutive round of one-under 69 and finished 74-71-69-69 with a three-over total of 283.

His string of consecutive major championships ends at four.

“There’s nothing wrong with the way I played,” Woods said. “I got a few bad bounces, yes. Did I execute the shots I wanted to? No. But I tried on every shot.”

So much for the Three Amigos taking advantage of the wilting Woods.

Chalk up another round of major opportunities lost for Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Sergio Garcia.

Mickelson, who turned 31 Saturday, turned in a stomach-turning final round of five-over 75 after starting the day three-under and only two-back of the lead.

Mickelson finished 70-69-68-75 for a two-over 282.

Mickelson remains the active player with the most tournament wins, 18, not to have won a major.

Mickelson has finished third in the ’96 Masters, second in the ’99 U.S. Open and third in the 1994 PGA.

“I’m not going to beat myself up over today’s round,” Mickelson said. “It’s certainly not the finish I would have liked, but out of playing 45 majors or so now, and not winning any, I’m tired of beating myself up time after time.”

Bogeys on No. 9 and No. 10 dropped Mickelson to one-under, but the killer came on the par-five 13th, the easiest hole on the course. Mickelson missed a three-footer for birdie and ended up three-putting for bogey to push him to even.

Garcia, who nearly chased Woods down the fairways of Medinah at the 1999 PGA Championship, started the day one back of the leaders but shot a seven-over 77 to finish three-over 283 for the tournament and seven shots back.

Duval started the day even, five shots off the lead, but turned in an abysmal 74.

Kite, with his final round of 64, passed Mickelson, Garcia and Duval on the leader board.

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Hole War

A look at how Mark Brooks, Retief Goosen and Stewart Cink played the 18th hole of the U.S. Open on Sunday:

MARK BROOKS

* 263-yard drive down middle of fairway.

* Three-iron from 203 yards lands on left side of green, leaving 40-foot left-to-right putt.

* Putt hangs on high side of hole, eight feet away.

* Straight downhill putt stops about two inches from cup.

* Taps in for bogey; begins to pack up in clubhouse believing chance to win over.

RETIEF GOOSEN

* 295-yard drive down right side of fairway.

* Fades iron from 171 yards, ball skipping by hole eight feet away.

* Downhill putt for the championship races two feet by hole.

* With another chance to win, pushes putt and it catches right lip of the cup, rolling three feet past.

* After regaining composure, makes three-footer for bogey to force playoff with Brooks.

STEWART CINK

* 275-yard drive down left side of fairway.

* With tough downhill lie from 191 yards, pulls iron over green.

* From thick rough, chips out to about 15 feet from cup.

* Par putt grazes left edge and rolls 18 inches past.

* Deciding to putt out to clear stage for Goosen’s expected victory, pushes bogey attempt wide right of cup.

* Taps in for double-bogey, missing playoff by one shot.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

FINAL ROUND

Yardage: 6,973; Par: 70

x-Mark Brooks

72-64-70-70--276 -4

x-Retief Goosen

66-70-69-71--276 -4

Stewart Cink, $325,000

69-69-67-72--277 -3

Rocco Mediate, $226,777

71-68-67-72--278 -2

Others

Vijay Singh, $125,172

74-70-74-64--282 +2

Davis Love III, $125,172

72-69-71-70--282 +2

Phil Mickelson, $125,172

70-69-68-75--282 +2

Tiger Woods, $91,733

74-71-69-69--283 +3

Sergio Garcia, $91,733

70-68-68-77--283 +3

x-will play 18-hole playoff today

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FINAL ROUND

At Southern Hills Country Club; Yardage--6,973; Par--70

x-Mark Brooks: 72-64-70-70--276 -4

x-Retief Goosen: 66-70-69-71--276 -4

Stewart Cink, $325,000: 69-69-67-72--277 -3

Rocco Mediate, $226,777: 71-68-67-72--278 -2

Tom Kite, $172,912: 73-72-72-64--281 +1

Paul Azinger, $172,912: 74-67-69-71--281 +1

Vijay Singh, $125,172: 74-70-74-64--282 +2

Angel Cabrera, $125,172: 70-71-72-69--282 +2

Davis Love III, $125,172: 72-69-71-70--282 +2

Kirk Triplett, $125,172: 72-69-71-70--282 +2

Phil Mickelson, $125,172: 70-69-68-75--282 +2

Tiger Woods, $91,733: 74-71-69-69--283 +3

Matt Gogel, $91,733: 70-69-74-70--283 +3

Michael Allen, $91,733: 77-68-67-71--283 +3

Sergio Garcia, $91,733: 70-68-68-77--283 +3

Scott Hoch, $75,337: 73-73-69-69--284 +4

Chris DiMarco, $75,337: 69-73-70-72--284 +4

David Duval, $75,337: 70-69-71-74--284 +4

Chris Perry, $63,425: 72-71-73-69--285 +5

Corey Pavin, $63,425: 70-75-68-72--285 +5

Mike Weir, $63,425: 67-76-68-74--285 +5

Scott Verplank, $54,813: 71-71-73-71--286 +6

Thomas Bjorn, $54,813: 72-69-73-72--286 +6

Steve Lowery, $48,352: 71-73-72-71--287 +7

Mark Calcavecchia, $48,352: 70-74-73-70--287 +7

Hal Sutton, $48,352: 70-75-71-71--287 +7

Olin Browne, $48,352: 71-74-71-71--287 +7

Steve Lowery, $48,352: 71-73-72-71--287 +7

Joe Durant, $48,352: 71-74-70-72--287 +7

Tom Lehman, $48,352: 76-68-69-74--287 +7

Jesper Parnevik, $30,055: 73-73-74-68--288 +8

Steve Jones, $30,055: 73-73-72-70--288 +8

Bob Estes, $30,055: 70-72-75-71--288 +8

Dean Wilson, $30,055: 71-74-72-71--288 +8

Gabriel Hjerstedt, $30,055: 72-74-70-72--288 +8

Darren Clarke, $30,055: 74-71-71-72--288 +8

Padraig Harrington, $30,055: 73-70-71-74--288 +8

Bob May, $30,055: 72-72-69-75--288 +8

J.L. Lewis, $30,055: 68-68-77-75--288 +8

a-Bryce Molder: 75-71-68-74--288 +8

Stan Micheel, $23,933: 73-70-75-71--289 +9

Tim Herron, $23,933: 71-74-73-71--289 +9

Briny Baird, $23,933: 71-72-70-76--289 +9

Tom Byrum, $18,280: 74-72-72-72--290 +10

Kevin Sutherland, $18,280: 73-72-73-72--290 +10

Toshimitsu Izawa, $18,280: 69-74-74-73--290 +10

Fred Funk, $18,280: 78-68-71-73--290 +10

Brandel Chamblee, $18,280: 72-71-71-76--290 +10

Jeff Maggert, $18,280: 69-73-72-76--290 +10

Duffy Waldorf, $18,280: 75-68-69-78--290 +10

Eduardo Romero, $15,045: 74-72-72-73--291 +11

Jimmy Walker, $13,164: 79-66-74-73--292 +12

Colin Montgomerie, $13,164: 71-70-77-74--292 +12

Mark Wiebe, $13,164: 73-72-74-73--292 +12

Jose Coceres, $13,164: 70-73-75-74--292 +12

Bob Tway, $13,164: 75-71-72-74--292 +12

Scott Dunlap, $13,164: 74-70-73-75--292 +12

Hale Irwin, $13,164: 67-75-74-76--292 +12

Frank Lickliter II, $13,164: 75-71-70-76--292 +12

Brandt Jobe, $13,164: 77-68-71-76--292 +12

Loren Roberts, $13,164: 69-76-69-78--292 +12

Tim Petrovic, $11,443: 74-71-75-73--293 +13

Dudley Hart, $11,443: 71-73-74-75--293 +13

Richard Zokol, $11,443: 72-71-74-76--293 +13

Jim Furyk, $11,443: 70-70-71-82--293 +13

Dan Forsman, $10,368: 75-71-77-71--294 +14

Ernie Els, $10,368: 71-74-77-72--294 +14

Harrison Frazar, $10,368: 73-73-76-72--294 +14

David Toms, $10,368: 71-71-77-75--294 +14

David Peoples, $10,368: 73-73-72-76--294 +14

Peter Lonard, $10,368: 76-69-70-79--294 +14

Franklin Langham, $9,508: 75-71-75-74--295 +15

Nick Faldo, $9,508: 76-70-74-75--295 +15

Anthony Kang, $8,863: 74-72-77-73--296 +16

Gary Orr, $8,863: 74-72-74-76--296 +16

Thongchai Jaidee, $8,863: 73-73-72-78--296 +16

Mathias Gronberg, $8,863: 74-69-74-79--296 +16

Jim McGovern, $8,325: 71-73-77-76--297 +17

Stephen Gangbluff, $8,110: 74-72-78-77--301 +21

a-amateur; x-will play 18-hole playoff today

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CUMULATIVE SCORES

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Hole Par Eagles Birdies Pars Bogeys Others Avg. 1 4 0 48 284 119 14 4.213 2 4 0 31 262 133 35 4.396 3 4 0 56 299 95 15 4.151 4 4 0 62 292 102 9 4.125 5 5 0 65 264 125 11 5.181 6 3 1 59 344 56 5 3.011 7 4 0 59 315 84 7 4.084 8 3 0 25 297 135 8 3.271 9 4 0 60 274 114 17 4.191 Out 35 1 465 2631 963 125 36.623 10 4 1 57 298 98 11 4.131 11 3 1 82 291 84 7 3.030 12 4 0 45 269 122 29 4.295 13 5 10 138 251 59 7 4.819 14 3 0 42 283 132 8 3.228 15 4 0 51 251 141 22 4.290 16 4 0 27 270 154 14 4.340 17 4 0 70 299 87 9 4.075 18 4 0 28 233 177 27 4.441 In 35 12 540 2445 1054 134 36.649 Total 70 13 1005 5076 2017 259 73.272

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