Freeway - Mark O'Meara

Mark O'Meara – What a Year

It has been a remarkable year for this man. Before 1998 he had never won a major golf competition in the 25 years he had been playing as a professional. The 42 year old American proved that he could still compete with the likes of Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood who had not long been professionals. It was in April when his amazing year began. The U.S. Masters held at Augusta, Georgia. The course was playing as hard as it had ever played and it was the young superstar, Tiger Woods, who was wearing the infamous green jacket in 1997.

It was Woods and Couples who started well, as expected, and O'Meara did not feature on the leader board until the penultimate day. Couples lost it on the 15th hole making a double bogey 6. O'Meara was left with a 20ft putt for the title. In it went and he received the green jacket off his good friend Tiger Woods. His first major ever and he was ecstatic. No-one could have predicted what was to happen later in the year.

The British Open, this year was being held at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport. I was fortunate to be able to go and see some incredible moments in what most amateur golfers would call unplayable weather. It was the highest scoring open I have ever seen. Again Woods started well, but too many consecutive bogey holes let him down and he began to fade away from the top 5. A new name featured near the top of the leader board for some time, Justin Rose? A 17 year old English golfer. O'Meara was creeping up on the leaders very quietly and they did not notice until it was too late. O'Meara stood with a massive trophy in his hands. He had claimed his second major victory of the year but had he finished his already incredible year?

The answer to this is no. Next he was to destroy the worlds best golfers in the World Match Play Championship at Wentworth. He quickly demolished Patrick Sjoland and Vijay Singh with impressive victory margins. It was to be a battle between O'Meara, the experienced mental player and the young talent of Tiger Woods, the longest hitter in the world. Woods' enthusiasm took him 5 holes up against O'Meara, but what magic could he produce this time? He found something, somehow to put the Tiger back in his cage and win 2 & 1.

I was fortunate enough to meet Mark O'Meara and Tiger Woods when I went to the British Open. They are both really down to earth and I received a cap from Mark O'Meara. Earlier in the year I met Seve Ballesteros and had my programme signed.