Jul 20

Did Tom Watson do enough to win the British Open and Camilo Villegas' backhand move

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When asked about Tom Watson’s chances of raising the Claret Jug at the 2009 British Open, Jack Nicklaus replied, “It is going to take constant concentration and discipline.” The Golden Bear asserted, “whether or not Tom plays well tomorrow, whether or not he wins, it doesn’t make a difference.”

After watching Watson’s head held high in spite of the occasional tear being wiped away by the fifty-nine year old legend, one can truly say that Nicklaus could not be further from the truth.

Cink and Watson look admirably at the Claret Jug after the 2009 British Open

With an invitation to play St. Andrews in 2010, Tom will be sixty. This was his swan song. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? Will Watson will be in the same condition and if so, will he even want to play in another Open? Tom mentioned that he isn’t anxious to play in another Masters because he doesn’t want to be the “memorial” player in the field, applauded by the crowd as the old guy on the tee. Can you blame him?

Although in five events on the Champions Tour, Watson has made every cut with one top-ten to his credit, the golfers playing in those events are also coming off of the PGA Tour at fifty, making it more of a struggle for Tom to stay competitive. The money isn’t that great either, compared to the PGA Tour. Even though Watson is currently ranked in 47th place, his total 2009 earnings are a mere $183,000 to date. Ernie Els, who ranks 47th on the PGA Tour after playing in thirteen events has over $1 million. With his $700k second place winnings, Watson has been able to close the gap but perhaps this is a good time to write another book?

Hats off to Stewart Cink who came through with clutch play. As for Tiger Woods, he could still learn a few things about staying even from Tom Watson, whose gentlemanly demeanor totally collided with the thuds heard from Woods’ clubhead as Tiger slowly but steadily fell to pieces.

Golf for Beginners also discusses Camilo Villegas’ easy backhand move for straight contact.

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5 comments

Comment from: Shanks [Visitor] Email
Watson said to the press that he intended to challenge Peter Dawson about the 60 year old limitation on former champions, just imposed this year. The reason for the change was to allow for more young qualifiers. If you will remember, Jack Nicklaus played his last at the Old Course at St. Andrews at age 65 just 4 tournaments ago in 2005. Perhaps a happy medium would be to have some sort of minimum performance standard on the Senior tour(s) to ensure the "geezers" are still competitive enough to warrant their inclusion after age 60.
2009-07-21 @ 10:55
Comment from: Shanks [Visitor] Email
Next year at St. Andrews will be it for golf's Huck Finn. Watson had his talk with Dawson and now has changed his tune in public. Apparently, the talk did not go as well as Watson hoped.
2009-07-23 @ 11:12
Comment from: wendyuk [Visitor] Email
What if Watson were to ...gulp.... win The Open next year? Wouldn't he be able to come back as "defending champion"?

Even if he were to make top ten, it would be hard to stick to the age limitation. I do think some players (sadly even Jack & Arnie) played in The Open way after they should have, but perhaps the R&A could base entry of previous winners on last year's performance rather than just age?

2009-07-25 @ 14:24
Comment from: Kazu [Visitor] Email
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2009-07-28 @ 01:40
Comment from: Chad Derico [Visitor]
mammoth daybook you've keep
2010-10-31 @ 14:01

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