France mourns Van
de Velde lossJean
Van de Velde's shocking collapse at the Open left much of France bemoaning what
one newspaper called "the cold cruelty" of golf. The
little-known Frenchman had a seemingly insurmountable three-stroke lead going
into the 18th hole Sunday but hit a series of disastrous shots that led to a four-hole
playoff. Scotland's Paul Lawrie, who started the day 10 strokes back, ended up
winning in the greatest comeback in the history of major championships.
"L'Equipe," the national
sports daily and France's most widely circulated newspaper, featured a photo of
Van de Velde on its cover and a back-page article titled, "And The Monster Ate
Him," a reference to the brutal course in Carnoustie, Scotland. "Do
we have the right to give up our childhood dreams?" the story began. "In one hole
(Van de Velde) demonstrated both the intense beauty and the cold cruelty of this
sport. "Seventy-one
holes and one moment of distraction. Two hundred and eighty-eight strokes to live,
two more to die. And that says it all." "Le
Figaro" carried an article called ``Panache at Half Mast,'' saying Van de Velde
wanted to "tempt the devil. And he landed in hell." The
daily "Liberation," nonetheless, hailed Van de Velde for ``holding his club high
so well, so long on British soil" -- longer than any other Frenchman.
French athletes are having
a rough couple of weeks. No Frenchman has yet won a stage in this year's Tour
de France. AP | 
