St. Andrews, Scotland- Tom Watson closed out his British Open career with his worst score ever at St. Andrews.
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When his name was announced on the first tee, the significant crowds roared with approval.
The hole resulted in a triple-bogey for Watson, moving him to three over par for the tournament.
There was no resentment of the way the elements conspired to wreck the planned romantic end to Watson’s Open involvement by pushing his finishing time back some four hours, or of how hard the course had become in late evening, merely appreciation.
“I’ve told the story, I didn’t like links golf at that time, but I learned to love it”.
That virtue characterized Watson’s post-round comments to peers, family and others. He had his Swilcan Bridge moment.
Ridge Watson, Tom’s older brother by three years and a vintner from Carmel Valley, Calif., was scurrying around and cursing his decision to lose contact with Oxman, who would know the best place to watch from. Not so this time. Then, Watson and his caddying son, Michael, got a shot together. “Let’s go up and enjoy the walk up the last hole”. The experience, Watson said, “tore his guts out”.
Said Watson: “It’s all joy, there’s no reason to be sad and I fully appreciate the R&A giving me a special exemption to play”.
“It’s been a very special time in my life”.
“I knew the back nine was going to play a little tougher into the wind and I knew I had to hit some quality shots”.
Watson’s won both the Open Championship and the U.S. Open in 1982.
“It was all about standing on the bridge and I wanted to bust out my old jumper”. The Open will miss him but he will forever be a huge part of this. The Open has defined his career and it’s not fun to have a finality. And I wondered why it was so emotional for him.
Golf often unites families and close friends. Watson heard it all day and he obliged, tipping his cap and waving his hand in its baby blue glove, the color of his sweater.
“It kind of scared me looking at those, like geez, look at those things; that guy is ugly”. “It’s like a picture, a print”. As he walked down the 10th, a lone spectator shouted his appreciation and was rewarded with eye contact and a courteous nod. Boyne believes he’s been accepted well because of his no-nonsense attitude as a golfer.
While golf’s aristocrats grappled with the sort of gnawing uncertainty normally reserved for high-handicappers, we thought of the pre-championship words of outgoing R and A chief executive, Peter Dawson, about the game’s most iconic venue.
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Oh, and he got to pull on his favourite yellow jumper for the cameras (even if it was worn the first time at Muirfield not St Andrews). It’s also the one major each year that that is contested on a links style golf course, meaning that the obstacles are fescue grass, pot bunkers, burns and undulations, instead of trees and lakes like on traditional, or parkland golf courses. Watson asked Tatum. “It just happened to be in the U.S. Open there”.
