Sunday, July 19, 2009
TURNBERRY, Scotland (AP) — Ross Fisher has his best chance to win the British Open. That’s provided he makes it to the first tee.
Fisher’s wife, Joanne, is three days overdue and the 28-year-old Englishman plans to hurry from the west coast of Scotland to their home outside London to be at the birth. He is edging closer to the Open title with one shot to make up on leader Tom Watson. He is also waiting for the phone to ring any time.
“If Jo does go into labor, I’ll be supporting her 100 percent. And I won’t be here, I’ll be with her because it’s something I definitely don’t want to miss,” he said.
“It’s been a long week, an intriguing week. I’ve got three days, she’s got three days,” he added. “Hopefully I can hang on one more day and hopefully she can. To win and then to get back home and to see the birth of our first child would be obviously a dream come true. But there’s a long way to go. Let’s hope we can both hold on.”
Fisher came close to a major triumph a month ago when he was tied for third after three rounds of the U.S. Open only to finish fifth behind surprise winner Lucas Glover at Bethpage Black.
Now he is chasing one of the greats in the 59-year-old Watson, who is one round from his sixth Open title and ninth major in one of golf’s amazing performances.
“It’s similar to my story, I guess, a bit of a Cinderella story,” Fisher said. “To be playing as well as he is at age 59 it’s incredible. He won here [at Turnberry] 32 years ago so I’m sure there will be a lot of followers out there for Tom, cheering for him.”
Like Lee Westwood, who is tied for fourth and two shots off the lead, Fisher is trying to become the first Englishman to win the Open since Nick Faldo won his third in 1992. He is bidding to be the first British winner since Paul Lawrie of Scotland at Carnoustie 10 years ago.
Fisher and Westwood will be playing partners today in a boost for the English gallery. Fisher is puzzled at why it’s been so long since there’s been a British champ.
“Hopefully that will end tomorrow, whether it’s myself or whether it’s Lee or someone else,” he said. “Hopefully we can boost the British game and European golf and try and get a win.”
That’s assuming he even gets there.