‘Nicklaus once told me the majors were the easiest to win because nine out of 10 players choke when the prize is in sight’
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.
Ali, remember, was only 32 and fighting fit, but Watson spent four days in challenging conditions fighting his way to the front of a field including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and young guns like Rory McIlroy, all at an age when most of us would be heading for semi-retirement and the rest home.
As Jacklin says: “What Tom Watson produced at Turnberry was the greatest performance in the history of golf. You have to be 60-plus to really appreciate what he achieved. The pressure, the stamina, the way he handled it all – it was fantastic, quite incredible.”
And Jacklin should know, having been around when Watson was the young kid on the block winning majors left, right and centre back in the 70s and 80s. Jacklin was no longer a challenger for individual honours back then, having achieved his ambition to be the best in the world by the time he was 25.
He won the Open at Lytham St Anne’s in 1969, the first Brit to lift the claret jug for 18 years, and then went on to win the 1970 US Open at Hazeltine, the first and only European to have won the tournament since 1925. He was 25 years old and could justifiably claim to be the best player in the world, a target he set himself in his teens with a audacity and ambition that he claims is lacking in too many of our bright young things today.
Jacklin was not able to sustain such success as a player, but just as Tom Watson was beginning to blaze the trophy trail, Jacklin was carving out another chapter in his career, as a successful captain of the European Ryder Cup team.
Indeed it was Jacklin more than anyone who reinvigorated the Ryder Cup, which was effectively US property back then, but is now one of the most keenly-fought trophies in sport.
He led Europe to their first victory over America for 28 years when they won in 1985, and then two years later led them to their first ever success on American soil. He set the standards that the likes of Seve Ballesteros and Sam Torrance have followed.
Now he has been fully retired from playing the Masters circuit six years ago, at the age of 60, but will get the clubs out again briefly at St Andrews this summer when the home of golf celebrates the 150th year of The Open.
Jacklin is the ambassador for The Official Open Championship Hospitality, which means plenty of meeting and greeting and a chance to take part in a four-hole exhibition match on the Wednesday before the real things tees off.
“It’s all I’m good for now,” he laughs. “It should be special, though. There’ll be plenty of past champions and many great memories of St Andrews. But the days of doing what Tom Watson did are over for me.”
Nick Faldo is still the only Englishman to have won The Open in the 41 years since Jacklin did it, and he does not hold out much hope of many more Brits going on to win majors unless they buck their ideas up.
“What you put in your mind as a young man stays with you for life, and if that includes dedication, ambition and determination, you have a chance.
“When I was a teenager I’d made a commitment to myself that I would become as good as I could. I put it in my mind that I could be the best player in the world, and when, a few years later, I had the Open and US Open trophies on my mantelpiece, I probably was the best, however briefly. Maybe I should have aimed for all four majors!”
But he does not see that drive and hunger in modern pros. “What you put in you get out, and I am not sure they have put it in their minds how good they can be,” he says.
“If you are not prepared, it can become a shock to the system when you get the opportunity to achieve what you set out to do.
“The human brain is the greatest computer there is, and it is the most valuable part of a golfer’s game. Look at the mindsets of people like Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. Doug Sanders once told me when Player arrived on the PGA tour in 1957 he said he’d win all four majors – and he done it within eight years!
“You don’t get into these situations by chance. The problem now is the rewards are so great on tour, players can get too comfortable too young.
“I look at Rory McIlroy and he is a multi-millionaire driving a Lamborghini – and he’s not even 21. Does that affect your resolve? It could be he is the one to win majors, but if you get comfy, you can lose mental toughness to see the job through.
“I remember Jack Nicklaus telling me he always thought the majors were the easiest tournaments to win because nine out of 10 players ‘choke’ when the prize is in sight, as if they are fearful of winning.”
No such worries for Jacklin when he was walking down the final fairway at Hazeltine 40 years ago. “Before I won The Open I had won at Jacksonville, the first Briton to win on the PGA tour, so I was well prepared for Hazeltine. I had a four-shot lead going into the final day, so it was mine to lose. It was all about staying in the moment and focusing.”
It is no coincidence single-minded Faldo is the only other Englishman to have had such success both at home and in the US since World War Two.
The most intensely focused modern player is, of course, Woods, and Jacklin will be fascinated to see how he emerges from his self-imposed exile at the US Masters after the scandals that have turned his life upside down.
“Who knows what we’ll see? He will be a hell of a different person, and he will get stick. Tiger has never been a great one for humility, because he never had to be. Will he go on to get the four majors he needs to catch Nicklaus? It looks a lot farther away now than it did a few months ago.”
Nicklaus is Jacklin’s great friend, neighbour in Florida and sometime partner in course design projects. But that will be on hold in July at St Andrews. Can Tiger win? “It’s anybody’s. The weather dictates so much and can vary enormously between 7am and 4.30pm so luck of the draw comes into play. Tiger hit a squall one year and ballooned out of the championship.”
Whoever wins, nothing will erase the memories Jacklin has of winning the claret jug in 1969 and achieving the ambition he set as a young man.
