Just elementary for Watson

THE ‘Duel in the Sun’, the amazing head-to-head in 1987 between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, underwent an unofficial and jovial reenactment late on Sunday night, but nobody is admitting who won this time around.

You have to suspect, however, that Watson again held the edge over the “Golden Bear” given how he went out in the first round of the Open at Turnberry yesterday, posting a remarkable five under par 65.

On Wednesday, Watson bemoaned the fact that he would no longer be eligible for the Open given he celebrates his 60th birthday in September and will be over the age limit. However, he can still make it to St Andrews in 2010 by finishing in the top 15 this week and that is certainly on the cards after how beautifully he performed in yesterday’s glorious conditions. He wasn’t getting ahead of himself admitting “she (the golf course) was defenceless and an easy test”.

Watson had caught up with Jack and Barbara Nicklaus in the Turnberry hotel on Sunday night.

“We went and had dinner and after a couple of bottles of wine we went down and played the little par 3 course at 11pm at night. And towards us comes a security man when we were just about ready to finish. And I said: ‘Jack you go and talk to him, I’m not going to talk to him’ as the guy walks up very sternly towards us. He’s going to run us off the course. And then, he realised what was happening and said ‘Mr Nicklaus, carry on please’.”

Yes, Tom, but who won this time? “Ah, you know what, there was no contest. We were just out there having fun.”

In any case, Watson has clearly revelled in returning to the course where he and Nicklaus fought out arguably the greatest head-to-head in the history of golf.

“There was some spirituality out there today, just the serenity of it was pretty neat,” he commented. “The wind is supposed to blow a little bit more tomorrow and blow a little bit on Saturday and stronger on Sunday, so she’s going to bare her teeth a little bit.

“They did put the flags in difficult positions, but without the wind you still had every chance. I was happy at the way I was hitting the ball and putting in practice so it was not that much of a surprise to me that I kept getting more and more under par. But everyone else was doing the same and Turnberry is pretty defenceless right now.”

Although naturally elated at shooting such a low number at this hour of his life, you can’t help feeling that Watson would like to see the conditions toughen up just a little for this really isn’t his idea of true links golf.

“As I said yesterday, golf is part of the fabric of life over here and in Scotland in particular,” he said. “Wherever you go, Tiger’s recognised and I get recognised a few places here as well. In the States, though, they don’t know who the heck I am.

“As I said earlier on, I did not always like links golf. I didn’t like the way you had to play it along the ground, the luck of the bounces or the bad luck of the bounces, but I took it in my stride finally and made a pretty good success of it.

“You go play a round of golf in four hours over here and they’re going to kick you out of the club. I like that. I play fast, but I still can’t understand their dialect very well. There’s a guy on the golf course today, he said something to me and I just didn’t have a clue what it was.”

Watson’s love of the game on this side of the world manifested itself nowhere more than at Ballybunion which he has visited on an annual basis for many years and where he was club captain in the millennium year.

And all the experience he and the likes of another “old timer” Mark Calcavecchia who shot 67 yesterday, have accumulated give them an “advantage”, he claimed.

“We’ve played under these conditions and we kind of get a feel for it. And that feel is worth its weight in gold. And I do come away with a real zip after a 65. It’s the way to start it.

“Will I be able to handle the pressure? I don’t know. The light switch may go on and I may play without too much pressure or it may be too much to handle. But I’ve been there before.”

For now, Watson thinks the 60 age limit is sensible (“you’ve got to let the younger kids play”) although after signing for his 65, he smiled ruefully and claimed “I still feel as if I can compete against them. Being a ceremonial golfer is when you feel like you can’t compete. I’m a ceremonial golfer at Augusta I can tell you that. I was just too hard headed to give it up. But somehow I can still beat this golf course.”

Were that to remain the situation come 6pm or so on Sunday evening the 138th Open Championship would surely go down as one of the most memorable and amazing of them all.