You might wonder what a 62-year-old, with two gammy knees and who can’t break 80, is doing playing in The Open. What are we doing clogging up the field with a player who will very likely miss the cut when the likes of Jason Day and Rickie Fowler can’t make it in?
Of all the quirks of The Open qualification, and there are many, this is one of the great ones. It’s not often many want to heap praise on the R&A but this is one of them – the cut-off mark for the past champions to take up a place in the field is to be 60 or under on July 17.
Mark Calcavecchia is now 62 but, due to the 2020 Championship being postponed and the American being injured for St George’s, he was asked if he’d like to sign off at St Andrews.
“When I got the email from Martin Slumbers, when he said the committee has unanimously agreed to have you play your last Open here at St Andrews, that was a great night. That was a great email I got. I’ve really been looking forward to it for quite a while,” he explained. “Unfortunately, my knees are really bad, both of them. I’m thinking knee surgery here is looming. Anyway, got around. My goal was to make the cut. I thought I could do that, but then I just got off to a crappy start. After that, I was just trying to make pars, basically.”
The final figures read rounds of 82-83 and an accumulative 21-over total. There were a couple of birdies and not much else to like but none of that mattered. He’s now played in 30 Opens, made the cut in 19 of them and, of course, he won at Troon in 1989. While many will point to Greg Norman driving into the fairway bunker at the 18th in extra holes, Calcavecchia played the four holes in two under.
Calcavecchia’s cool. Not in the modern sense of being stylish and athletic, more in being laid back and normal. He once told me that he would bring a four pack along for the end of the day as nobody wanted to go to the pub any more. This week he’s staying next door to the Dunvegan pub just around the corner from the 1st tee.
While most of his peers will be stretching and pumping…
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