An appetite for martyrdom or merely naive? Whatever the explanation for Luke Watson's bizarre remark to student players about wanting to vomit on the Springbok jersey, it seemed to have brought the curtain down on a rugby career that was ill-starred from the start at the highest level.
When he was playing well for the Stormers in the Super 14 in the 2006 season, Watson was not picked for the national side. In 2007, as Bok coach Jake White was putting the finishing touches to his squad for the World Cup in November, Watson did not have such a good season. Yet White was forced to include him for the mid year match against Samoa at Ellis Park. Luke's father Cheeky, who was prominent in non racial rugby in the 1970s and still has "struggle" friends in high places, was seen as the interfering villain.
It was an undistinguished debut in playing terms - Watson never caught up with the pace of the game, hardly touched the ball, and had to leave the field injured in the first half. Off the field, he was ostracised by the rest of the team and White made it clear that he would not be chosen again. This year he didn't come close to achieving the standards of 2006 and his contempt for the jersey outraged rugby fans.
The impression remained of a sincere but confused man whose career was derailed by bad advice and a genetic talent for self-destruction. It is hard to think of a top sportsman who worked harder at being a loser. It remains to be seen if there is still a role for Luke, and if his father's election to the top job at Eastern Province will make any difference.
Watson looked as lonely as a golfer in that test at Ellis Park in 2007. If rugby is the ultimate team game, golf is the most extreme test of the individual's courage and nerve. At the highest professional level you are expected to play 72 holes over four days, knowing that a single bad mistake at any of them can mean disaster. And you can blame only yourself. When it comes to the majors - the British Open, US Open, US PGA and the Masters - the pressure is multiplied to a level that many golfers find unbearable (and that's just if you're watching on TV).
Trevor Immelman's moment of truth at this year's Masters was his double-bogey at the short 16th hole. As any golfer knows, the short holes can be more intimidating because you're expected to tame them routinely. After the 15th he had been leading by five shots, having been the overnight leader by two.
With the most prestigious championship of them all within his reach, in a field that included the great Tiger Woods, Immelman found the water off the tee at the 16th. And then he got into a greenside bunker at the 17th - a ferocious trial by water and sand.
Many top golfers would have cracked at that point. But under the eyes of millions, Immelman managed to get up and down for a nerve-settling par. He is only the second South African to win the Masters, 30 years after Gary Player took his third green jacket.
The victory was all the sweeter because he had recovered from surgery in December 2007 to remove a tumour, and there was a rare tribute from Woods: "I hit the ball well enough to contend but I didn't put enough pressure on Trevor."
The saddest fall from grace in 2008 was that of cricketer Herschelle Gibbs. His spectacular 172 in 111 balls at the Wanderers in March 2006, when SA made 436/9 to beat Australia in the greatest one-day match ever played, is now a distant memory. At 32, an age when the great batsmen are reaching their peak, Gibbs is out of the team after a run of poor form and into rehab, following allegations of drunken driving.
The boy who turned every sport he touched to gold is now a man who has to battle with himself and confront a future after sport. It is up to him whether he will be a loser, just as it is up to Watson. As for Immelman: however great the previous victory, in April everyone will be equal again at the first tee of the 2009 Masters.
Ranking the Analysts 2009
