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Jean Van de Velde
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean Van de Velde (born 29 May 1966 in Mont-de-Marsan, Landes) is a French golfer who is known mainly for his loss at The Open Championship in 1999.
Van de Velde turned professional in 1987 and his rookie season on the European Tour was 1989. His first European Tour win was the 1993 Roma Masters. He has twice finished in the top twenty of the Order of Merit, but ranks as one of the Tour's journeymen.
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Van de Velde nearly pulled off an upset victory at the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie, when he was the clear leader playing the closing holes. He arrived at the 18th tee needing only a double-bogey six to become the first Frenchman since 1907 to win the tournament. He had played error-free golf for much of the week and birdied the 18th hole in each of his two prior rounds.
Despite a three-shot lead, Van de Velde chose to use his driver off the tee, a move widely considered to be ill-advised given the situation. He proceeded to drive the ball very far to the right. Rather than correcting his mistake by playing back to the fairway, Van de Velde decided to go for the green with his second shot. His shot drifted right and hit the grandstands on the side of the green. Had his ball landed in the grandstands he would have been given a free drop, but instead his ball bounced off of them -- backwards fifty yards into knee deep rough. Van de Velde still had four shots to work with, and still could have safely played back to the fairway and then onto the green, but he decided to again go for the green. On his third shot, Van de Velde's club got tangled in the rough on his downswing, and his ball flew into the Barry Burn. He removed his shoes and socks and gingerly stepped through shin-deep water as he debated whether to try to hit his ball out of the Barry Burn, which guards the 18th green. Ultimately, he took a drop (which added a penalty stroke to his total), and then also hit his fourth shot (fifth stroke) poorly - the ball landing in a green-side sand trap. On his fifth shot (sixth stroke) Van de Velde pitched the ball out of the sand trap and onto the green about six feet from the hole. He made the putt from there for a total of seven strokes on the hole. This disastrous triple-bogey seven dropped him into a three-way playoff with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie. After the playoff, the Claret Jug went to Lawrie.
In the new millennium, Van de Velde was troubled by injuries for several years, but he made a dramatic comeback at the 2005 Open de France, where he lost a playoff to fellow Frenchman Jean-Francois Remesy (after, once again, finding water on the last hole). In 2006, he won his second European Tour title at the Madeira Island Open.
Van de Velde made light of his 1999 Open collapse in a humorous Never Compromise infomercial in which he replayed Carnoustie's 18th hole in the dead of winter with only the company's brand putter in an attempt to best than the seven stokes that cost him the championship. He succeeded on his third attempt.