He's One Cool Cat

By John Strege
Photos By Darren Carroll August 8, 2008

The moment triangulation was introduced as a strategic navigational device it was evident that this U.S. Senior Open would be a different kind of animal, notwithstanding the black bear (or bears) that interrupted proceedings Friday and consumed a quantity of hot dogs and candy in a Saturday night concession stand raid.

The bear intrusion on the East Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, at any rate, helped delineate the likely outcome. It stood to reason that either the man with the Mutual of Omaha endorsement would win in this wild animal kingdom, or the one known as El Gato, the Cat, would prevail.

Ultimately it was a day that belonged to Eduardo Romero, El Gato, who turned a match race with Fred Funk into a solo journey into the hearts of 35,000 villagers in his hometown of Villa Allende, Argentina. Romero, 54, won by four shots, a victory that triggered a celebration that may not yet have ended.

When Romero won the Dick's Sporting Goods Open a month ago, schools were closed and the kids ventured to the airport in Villa Allende to welcome him home. Golf has become a passion in Villa Allende, which has only a single course, but two international golf stars who have won U.S. national championships in consecutive years, Romero's Senior Open victory bookending Angel Cabrera's U.S. Open win at Oakmont last year.

"Everybody is talking about golf, everybody knows about golf," Romero said. "If you go to the pharmacy, the guy says, 'Eduardo, how you've played, it's unbelievable.' It is a little village, like St. Andrews, but everybody knows about golf."

Interest is not confined to the village. Much of the country of Argentina took note of his victory, according to countryman Roberto De Vicenzo, himself a past champion of the U.S. Senior Open, the winner of the inaugural event in 1980. De Vicenzo was among those who called to congratulate him.

"After the Cabrera victory, the golf in South America is completely different now," Romero said. "Golf wasn't a sport in South America and Argentina. Before, it was soccer. Now it's very important for South America, especially Argentina."

It would seem unusual for an Argentine from the same small village that produced the 2007 Open champion following with a victory in the Senior Open, but it fit neatly into a script that was odd in a number of ways, including the manner in which Romero closed out this victory. He took a three-stroke lead to the 11th hole, made four straight bogeys and still increased his lead to four.

Funk was only two down when he pulled a 3-wood tee shot into thick rough at the 13th hole, a mistake he compounded by attempting to muscle a 7-iron second shot up near the green. "I was so close to whiffing it," he said. "I did cold-top it." The ball settled into a horrendous lie from which he would make a triple-bogey 7. "The party's over," he said.

It was over only in his own mind. Romero had other thoughts, one of them Greg Norman's collapse at the Masters in 1996, "when he started to make bogeys and never stopped." Another thought was of an Argentina Open in which Romero made seven straight bogeys.

"It wouldn't stop," he said. "It's very hard, especially for me. When I started to make bogeys today, I said to my caddie, 'I have to make a putt, just one putt.' " He applied the requisite tourniquet at the next hole, where he made the first of four straight pars that concluded a final round of three-over 73.

Romero played 72 holes in six-under 274. Only two others (Funk and Mark McNulty) were under par in a championship that was overwhelmingly praised, despite its difficulty and the vagaries that made it unique.

The Broadmoor itself stands apart for a variety of reasons, foremost among them the altitude, which is nearly 6,500 feet above sea level and requires a caddie with an advanced degree in mathematics to do the calculations required to select the proper club in the thin air (see Equipment, page 14).