Ephemerata

At the start of the British Open Golf Championship this weekend, Tom Watson was a 1500-1 outsider, and I would guess that very few backed him to win. And yet he led the last round to the final hole where he dropped a shot and then had to face a further four difficult holes in a play off.

Stuart Cink had almost come back from the dead to match his score and I felt sorry for this guy who had spoiled the party for the fifty nine year old Watson who would clearly have been the most popular winner of all time. That however was not to be and as the four holes progressed and Watson's game fell apart, the crowd was almost silent and the atmosphere, which until the play off began had been electric, began to die along with Watson's ability to play golf. It seemed that his batteries had just run low, he had given his all in the previous 72 holes and just had nothing left. Cink played brilliantly, and although he did get generous applause on the final green as his putt dropped into the hole, the 2009 Open will be remembered as Watson's swansong.

Everyone seems to like the underdog, and this could be seen as a flaw in society. We build people up to become champions, putting them on the highest of pedestals and once they are there, the media lead the mob into trying to bring them down again. It seems that we like winners, but only for a while. Winners that keep on winning lose their appeal and then we love nothing more than to see them fall., and the media love to give them a shove at every available opportunity.

We are a society of ephemerata if that is a word. Everything has to be short term as attention spans have become so short and change is foisted upon us at every turn. Fashion houses make their fortunes by changing every five minutes, electronic goods are evolving so fast that as soon as you buy something it has become obsolete. We don't repair things any more as it is generally cheaper to replace things. About the only things that last these days are people, and sadly as we get older it becomes more and more difficult to embrace the changes that we face. Technology drives the economy and it seems that it has advanced way beyond most people's ability to cope with it.

Tom Watson has lasted the course. At nearly sixty, it is unlikely that he will ever be so close to the top of the pile again, and I imagine that he will have very mixed feelings about his weekend. The huge cheque for second place will be some consolation for what might have been.