Scene of the Van de Velde ’99 Open disaster disaster at Carnoustie.
Wikipedia
Van de Velde, who was in control through the latter half of the championship, held a seemingly insurmountable three-stroke lead going into the 72nd hole.[8] Despite the three-stroke lead van de Velde had going into the final hole, his name had not already been engraved into the Claret Jug, according to engraver Alex Harvey: “No, I didn’t start engraving the Jug with his name. I’ve got to wait until the secretary hands me a slip of paper with the winner’s name on it, and they always wait until the last putt is dropped.”[9]
Van de Velde teed off with a driver, which was heavily criticized by the ABC broadcast team, and pushed his shot far to the right, over the water bordering the right side of the 18th fairway, and onto the 17th hole. He later claimed that he thought the lead was only two strokes, which is why he chose not to go with a safe club, such as an iron.[citation needed] Choosing not to simply lay up with a wedge, van de Velde went for the green on his second shot with a two iron. His second shot came to rest in an area of knee-deep rough after his ball bounced backward 50 yards off the grandstand next to the 18th green and off of a rock in the Barry Burn. Had the ball stayed in the grandstand he would have been able to drop without penalty. Then the thick Carnoustie grass stifled him again, as his third shot went into the burn in front of the green. Van de Velde took his shoes and socks off and entered the burn, considering an attempt to play the ball from the water. He decided against it and instead took a drop (fourth stroke), at which point he hit his fifth shot into one of the deep greenside bunkers. He pitched out safely and holed the eight-foot putt on his seventh shot for a triple-bogey, which would trigger a three-man playoff between van de Velde, Lawrie, and Leonard.[10][11] Van de Velde’s play on this hole is still widely considered[11] to be the worst “choke” in golfing history, and some have even used the term “pulling a van de Velde” to describe similar events.[12]