Barry Burn, that is.
Barry Burn is the small, narrow stream or creek that flows through Carnoustie in Scotland and in 1999, Jean Van de Velde's attempts to negotiate the body of water with a three stroke lead on the final hole cost him the Open Championship. Needing only a double bogey to win, Van de Velde triple-bogied and lost a playoff to Paul Lawrie.
The burn also comes into play on the seventeenth hole at Carnoustie and today, Andres Romero stood on the tee with a two stroke lead. His drive found the right rough, and rather than playing safe, Romero went for the green with a two-iron in hand, his ball hit Barry Burn's stone retaining wall, ricocheted all the way across the fairway to the out of bounds. He double-bogied the hole, and was unnerved enough to bogie the final hole as well, in the end, missing the playoff that decided the championship by a single stroke.
Back to the eighteenth hole, Irishman Padraig Harrington reached the tee with a one stroke lead over Sergio Garcia. Twice he hit his ball into the burn -- the first time, his drive nearly scooted across a bridge to avoid the water, but fell in with about a foot to go to reach dry land -- and walked off the green one stroke behind Garcia.
As it turns out, Garcia managed to avoid the burn, but still bogied the eighteenth, invoking a playoff with him and Harrington. Reaching the eighteenth for the second time in the day, Harrington held a two stroke lead over Garcia. Wisely, he eschewed the driver and played the hole quite conservatively (brilliant!), settled for a bogey after avoiding the burn and a "big number", and won the 136th Open Championship.
How can such a small creek play such a significant role in so many championships? That's golf.
