‘Nicklaus once told me the majors were the easiest to win because nine out of 10 players choke when the prize is in sight’

THERE can have been few more memorable moments in golf – or indeed sport in general – in recent years than the last few holes of last year’s Open at Turnberry when Tom Watson came within inches of the most astonishing comeback in the game.

More than a quarter of a century after the American won his first major, here he was, well into his 60s, with an eight-foot putt to win The Open. The fact that he missed, went to a play-off and ultimately lost to Stewart Cink means little to British golfing great Tony Jacklin, who still regards Watson’s four rounds as “the greatest performance I have ever seen on a golf course”.

Jacklin goes further, arguing that what Watson achieved in what is still essentially a young man’s game is right up there with Muhammed Ali’s famous Rumble in the Jungle comeback, when he beat George Foreman to regain the World Heavyweight title in 1974.