Watson at the Open
59 never looked so good.
That’s how I had planned to start this post had Tom Watson been able to finish off the miracle.
What Watson could have accomplished today lacks precedence. Five Open Championships-impressive. Eight major championships–amazing. To be able to add to these numbers at his age, thirteen years older than Jack Nicklaus was when he won The Masters in ‘86, with an artificial hip, is unfathomable.
I’m told that the New York Mets were truly “amazing” in 1969. What the United State hockey team did in 1980 in Lake Placid, truly was a “miracle.” Villanova proved to us that Cinderella really can dance in 1984. However, none of these feats compare to Watson winning the Open Championship at the age of 59.
On Thursday, when the reports started coming in that Watson was on top of the leader board, I smiled. However, I never thought it would last. Last year, Greg Norman teased us, hanging around the top of the leader board until the very end. At best, I thought Watson could hang around through 36 holes, but to do it through 72 holes I felt was unimaginable.
Here was a man I watched as a young golfer. I still remember writing Watson as a 9 year old and asking for his autograph. I guess I should dig through some of my old sports memorabilia, because Watson wrote back and somewhere, among mounds of baseball cards, I have his autograph. Now, I’m 30 and Watson is once again relevant in the world of sports. This would be like Danny White coming back and leading the Cowboys to a Super Bowl title this year.
It hurt watching Watson shows signs of fatigue, bogeying 18 and then the tragic 4 hole playoff. However, I should look at it from the other perspective. Stewart Cink’s performance in the 4 hole playoff, and subsequent birdie on 18 was very Tiger like and for the first time in his career he started living up to his hype. Nothing should be taken away from Watson. His performance is still amazing.
I can only hope I look so good at 59.
