Watson in control and still going merrily along
Or make that a bump and runner’s chance. An eight-time major winner closing in on his 60th birthday in September, Watson’s affinity with links golf and Scotland’s west coast gem in particular is evidenced by his five Open victories between 1975 and 1983 and his 2003 British Senior Open success at Turnberry, one of three wins in the tournament to date.
Returning to the scene of some of his career’s defining moments also had the American whetting his appetite for the chance to mix it with the game’s current greats.
And while Tiger Woods struggled on the Ailsa course, Watson has shown how it should be done with an opening 65 in the sun to match his final two rounds in 1977 and a second-round 70 on a more blustery day yesterday, draining a monster birdie putt at the 18th to return to the top of the leaderboard.
“It’s just very simple,” Watson said before the tournament. “I continued to believe in myself and my ability to get the job done. If I kept hitting the ball the way I was hitting the ball through that stretch of time, and still have the same moments, even now, when I’m closing in on 60, I just had that belief in myself.
“I had a belief in myself going over to Turnberry, that, unlike my belief going over to the Masters and playing Augusta National, that course is out of my league now because of the distance that you have to carry the ball on holes like 14 and 17; and to hit the proper iron shots into the greens, I’m at such a disadvantage there.
“But conversely, I can play links golf courses, I can get the ball running and I can hit the proper shots into the greens, and the greens are designed where you can role the ball on the greens. You can bounce it and there are methods of getting the ball to the green other than in the air; it’s designed that way. So I have a belief in myself that I can still do that.
“And if I’m hitting on all cylinders, I can make a run. So that was my belief factor back then and my ability and it still remains today.”
Turnberry is playing tougher in Watson’s opinion than it did when he won in 1977, a weekend that saw he and Nicklaus tear it and the field apart in unusually benign conditions.
Still, even as it was, Watson is still at something of a loss to make logic of the fact that the two leaders had separated themselves so convincingly from the rest of the field in a major.
Nicklaus and Watson had matched each other’s rounds over 54 holes with scores of 68, 70 and 65 before the latter shot another 65 on the Sunday to win by a stroke from his rival and 11 better than the rest.
“I don’t think there is an explanation except that maybe we were just playing that much better.
“We had identical scores the first two rounds, first three rounds, and then we started to separate after the third round. By the time Jack was 3-under par in the fourth round, I caught up to him, that the field had gone back yards. Hubert Green commented, ‘Hey, I don’t know who won this tournament, but I won first flight’.
“I really can’t explain it. We both were playing very well. I was at the top of my game at that point, and actually going into the tournament, I was in good form and that was one of the few times in my career I really felt I had a great chance winning the tournament going into it. Just a handful of times where entering into the tournament, I really felt it was my tournament to win.”
Watson has more good memories from the game of golf than most but even into late middle age he prefers to look at his present challenge rather that look back on former glories, even that duel in the sun.
“No, I don’t go back in the quietness of my home and relive that. It’s past, but it’s a wonderful memory. And it’s a wonderful time to go back and relive that, and our primary objective is to go back there and play well enough to compete.”
As he is proving this week, Watson has plenty to think about in the present.
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