Calcavecchia, cool as you like

ON A raw and moist day along the English Channel, the lunchtime leaderboard at the British Open was a reflection of the current state of affairs in professional golf — a Dane, Spaniards, Englishmen, and a gentleman from Japan, but nary an American in sight.

Unless, of course, you were willing to accept an American dinosaur, which is highly recommended because in Mark Calcavecchia you get a true original. Against a backdrop of players who know all the cliches and aren’t afraid to say them, Calcavecchia is still willing to speak his mind, express his emotions, and let you know exactly how he’s feeling.

And being the British Open, he’s feeling quite well, thank you very much.

“I do love this tournament. I’ve always told everybody that it’s my favourite tournament of the year,” Calcavecchia said after posting a one-under-par 69 at Royal St George’s.

With nearly half of the 156-player field finished, Calcavecchia sat four off the lead, tied for American honours with Ryan Moore, although six Americans among the late starters were eventually to go lower.

Still, pretty impressive stuff for a 51-year-old playing in his 25th British Open. Even more so when you consider he got up in the middle of the night and made a 6.41am tee time, but hold up if you think Calcavecchia was not happy with his starting assignment.

“I like it. I think (Royal & Ancient chief executive) Peter Dawson knows I like it, so I take it.”

He likes it for a handful of reasons, one of which is the fact it means fewer players in front of him, which pleases one of the game’s fastest players. It reminds of the time when Calcavecchia suggested he had a solution for slow play on the PGA Tour. “Put me out first, every day,” Calcavecchia said.

He was being refreshingly honest the day he said that, as he was yesterday when he was asked to go through his preparation for this week’s 140th British Open. Calcavecchia had been in California for a Champions Tour event last weekend, so he flew on Monday, recovered Tuesday, then went to play a practice round Wednesday. Only the weather turned nasty, his three playing partners decided against it, “and I was by myself behind two foursomes,” he said. Anyone who has spent five minutes with Calcavecchia knows what that did for his mood.

“Being out there for five hours by myself in a practice round? No.”

He played just five holes and left, which isn’t even a personal record.

“I played four holes at Augusta one year — Nos. 1, 2, 8, 9. That was enough.”

In an era of cookie-cutter golf swings and young kids who practice the take-away portion for perhaps 45 minutes without hitting a ball, Calcavecchia is old school. He hits the ball, goes and finds it, hits it again, and has ridden the same patented high fade to tens of millions of dollars. Hard to believe he’s ever visited the fitness trailer or consulted a sports psychologist, and whereas so many of today’s pampered stars get lockjaw when they shoot 72 are asked to meet the press, Calcavecchia has never seen a round of 76 that he couldn’t explain without self-deprecating humour.

That fact that he is here is definitive proof the British Open possesses a charm that no other golf tournament can match. Having won at Royal Troon in his third attempt, in 1989, Calcavecchia is in possession of an exemption that will take him until he’s 60 and you can bank on seeing him every July until then.

“Unless I’m lame or something, I’ll be here every year,” he said.

He once explained that he loved everything about the Open, “even the beer; I love the beer,” and nothing has soured that sentiment. Not even in 2009 or 2010 when third-round 77s spoiled potential high finishes did Calcavecchia’s spirit wane; he insisted that had he shot 79 and not 69 in this year’s first round, he’d be saying the same thing.

You can take that to the bank, too. Calcavecchia is as honest as he is refreshing and if he were to stay in the hunt here, the championship flavour would increase exponentially.