Laughing plus joking, the group’s eagerness to play the legendary course steeped in Open Championship history is not lost on their audience. They are Tom Watson, and few people and areas are more synonymous using the Open than the 72-year-old and St Andrews.
Certainly one of golf’s most iconic names, Watson is a five-time winner of the major, while the Outdated Course at St Andrews has managed the Open more times than every other venue and will phase the 150th release of the tournament later this month.
Yet incredibly — and not for the want of trying — Watson by no means lifted the Claret Jug at the historic links course.
With 8 major triumphs and 39 PGA Trip wins, the American is regarded as one of the game’s greatest-ever players. Their five Open achievements between 1975 and 1983 leave your pet second only to Harry Vardon (six) within all-time wins on the event, consolidating his reputation as an excellent links golfer.
Had it not really been for two distressing runner-up finishes, Watson would have eclipsed Vardon’s haul, yet even during the first of these near misses in 1984 at St Andrews, he insists that the record was not on his mind.
“I didn’t think about that, inch Watson told CNN Sport. “My work is to play every shot until I finish it up on here in 18 plus hope that’s going to become the lowest score of the week. ”
“Now I had to be a hero”
One hole in the close in 1984, Watson’s job had been almost finished as he arrived at the well known 17th road hole tied for the lead with Seve Ballesteros.
Their opening drive skewed to the right, close to being out of bounds, and settled on a sloped mound. Thirty-eight years on as he retraces his steps on the particular course, Watson can still pick out the hump that led him to attempt an all-or-nothing second shot.
“Now I had to be a hero. I was going to take a risk and strike that perfect shot to win the Open Championship, ” he recalled. “The sleep is history, but the lie dictated the particular shot that I attempted to play there. I decided to take the aggressive play. ”
History certainly, as — recorded in one of golf’s great photos — Watson subsequently discovered himself forced to play the most awkward of lies mere inches from the wall and onlooking fans. Regardless of having minimal room for back golf swing, Watson bounced a remarkable effort across the road and onto the green.
However as he lined up an improbable long-range putt, his Spanish version, a hole ahead, was starring in the soon-to-be iconic photoshoot of his own.
“I heard the roar from the crowd, ” Watson remembered, as Ballesteros marked his stunning, curling birdie putt at the 18th together with his legendary fist water pump celebration.
Watson bogeyed prior to parring at the final to seal the fourth major win for Ballesteros, who does triumph once more at the Open in 1988.
“I knew I had an excellent chance of winning”
Watson would never again arrive so close in St Andrews — a 31st location finish in 1995 his best ensuing result — but came close to a fantastic Open win elsewhere in 2009.
At 59 years of age, he stunned the world at Turnberry, Scotland, by shooting sixty-five, 70, and 71 to lead with a stroke at four-under heading into championship Sunday. It place him within 18 holes of shattering the record regarding oldest major winner, set by 48-year-old Julius Boros at the 1968 PGA Championship (and surpassed with a 50-year-old Phil Mickelson in 2021).
Thirteen yrs later, Watson mentioned he “didn’t care” about the feat, yet he did feel the pressure of playing at the event.
“I felt nervous because I knew I had an excellent chance of winning, ” he admitted.
Jumping back superbly from two bogeys on the opening three openings, Watson birdied the particular penultimate hole to arrive at the par-four eighteenth needing to make k?rester to edge compatriot Stewart Cink and secure the earn.
Right after an ideal tee drive had put him in the center of the fairway, Watson believes even today he hit the particular “perfect” approach. However just as in 1984, the elements were not on his side, as the ball landed comfortably at the green only to quickness past the flag and settle in the long grass downhill.
“There was obviously a lot of wind inside my back and there was much more of a gust of wind when I strike, and I think a lot of that ball going over the green was just that extra gust, ” he said.
Watson chip-putted onto the eco-friendly, but his failure to convert the subsequent 10-foot putt forced a four-hole playoff. Cink romped house to victory using a pair of pars plus birdies, with Watson finishing four over par.
“This isn’t a funeral, you understand? ” Watson quipped at the opening associated with his press conference, although adding that the loss had “torn” at his belly. Yet ultimately the particular agonizing miss has not diminished his adore for the game.
“I’m a golfer, I perform a game for a living. How easy a life is that? ” he said.
“I wished to be the absolute best golf player I could possibly be to get myself. If which was good enough to beat everybody else, so be it. ”
Watching the camaraderie of the group of fanatics on the first gap only consolidates Watson’s reflections, but it also stirs another feeling — missing the thrill of competing.
“I appreciate being around the individuals who I’ve met through the years who are at tournament sites, ” he or she said. “But when the competition’s going on, I had created rather be at the golf course than hanging out under the tree with Augusta or within the patio here.
“I would like be out there — you never lose that. ”