Miller Says Van De Velde Should’Ve Won

You can count Johnny Miller among the millions who watched ABC’s telecast of last Sunday’s final round of the British Open, in which Jean Van de Velde etched his name in golfing infamy by making triple bogey on the final hole to throw away a three-shot lead and the claret jug.

So what did Miller, a veteran and candid color commentator for NBC, think of Van de Velde’s collapse, which dropped him into a three-man playoff that was won by Paul Lawrie?

“It was very good for golf, because the public can relate to that,” Miller said of Van de Velde’s ill-advised decision to go for the green in two rather than play conservative and protect his seemingly insurmountable lead. “But it’s one thing to choke and hit a bad shot, and a whole other thing when you not only hit a bad shot, but you make three mental errors with it.

“Being aggressive off the tee is OK, but he had three chances to bail and still win the tournament and he never heeded any of them. Now he has to live with that for the rest of his life, and it’s hard to live with mental mistakes.”

Miller said he noticed Van de Velde’s caddy didn’t have much to say on the final hole.

“If I’d have been his caddy I would have been tempted, walking up the 18th tee, to bust the driver, 3-wood, 2-iron, 3-iron, even 4-iron over my knee and say, `Here you go, you’ve got 5 (iron) to the wedge here. Everything else is busted.

” ‘Now hit me a 5-iron, then a 7- or 8-iron, then another 9-iron and three putt and we’ll go grab that trophy.”

“I’d have busted everything from the 4-iron up and he would have won, because the guy is a putting genius.”