Let’s face it: Tom Watson’s loss in the British Open Sunday is the big story.

Bigger than Stewart Cink’s victory and bigger than Tiger’s absence altogether. One eight-foot putt away from golf’s oldest trophy on the 18th hole at Turnberry, and the 59-year-old Watson couldn’t come through. It may be harsh to call it a choke, but Cink merely had to play the next four playoff holes (two pars and two birdies) as Watson ran out of steam with a two bogies, a par and a double bogey.

In the end, Watson’s unlikely weekend atop the leaderboard among players who were barely born when he beat Jack Nicklaus in the 1977 British Open will be what is remembered about the ’09 British Open. Isn’t that usually how it goes? The loveable loser makes the story. Let’s take a look at some past “not-quite” winners:

1. Jean Van de Velde — Watson can look at the 1999 British Open for consolation. Van de Velde needed a double bogey on the 18th hole to win, but it seemed as though his ball and the cup were repelling magnets. The Frenchman took seven strokes before finishing with a triple-bogey, but ended in a tie with Paul Lawrie, and then lost in a playoff in a shockingly ugly finish.

2. Rocco Mediate — Last year’s US Open, not nearly as ugly but just as intense, pitted Mediate against Tiger Woods in an epic play at Torrey Pines. Woods sunk a 12-foot birdie on the 18th hole to force the extra day of play. Fresh off knee surgery a few months prior Woods battled through 91 holes to outlast Mediate who was trying to become the oldest U.S. Open winner in history. Mediate could have pulled out the victory leading by one stroke towards the end, but Tiger did as Tiger does best, and won the Open.

3. George Mason — The 2006 Final Four Cinderella story. The No. 11 seed Patriots miraculously came out of the field of 65 knocking out three Final Four champions: Michigan State (2000) in the first round, held North Carolina (2005) to 30 percent shooting in the second round and brought down Connecticut (2004) in overtime in the Elite Eight. The loss to Florida in the Final Four was bittersweet; so close but yet no one had expected them to get past the first round.

4. 2009 Super Bowl — Arizona Cardinals: They came so close. They had never been to a Super Bowl and only played eleven postseason games in franchise history, but couldn’t pull it off. Falling behind 17-7 at halftime, it looked as though the Steelers had the game in the bag, with Kurt Warner’s 1-yard TD pass the Cardinals’ only spark of life against the Steel Curtain. Up 20-7 by the fourth, Pittsburgh was golden, yet Warner didn’t give up. Another 1-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald followed by a 64-yard hookup to Fitzgerald put the Cardinals up by three with less than three minutes on the clock. But Big Ben’s pass to Santonio Holmes with forty seconds left all but sucked the life out of Arizona and the comeback fizzled.

5. The 2003 Red Sox — Sorry to bring it up, but we’ll keep it short and simple (no need for a link). The unlikliest of unlikely teams — with their “Cowboy Up” slogan and shaved heads — surged to the forefront of the playoff scene, winning the AL Wild Card and battling the Yankees to a seventh game. Cut to Yankee Stadium, Tim Wakefield, the 11th innning and Aaron Boone … enough said. Add in the Cubs and the Bartman ball, and there was a World Series that could have and should have been.

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