JUST as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer took their leave of the championship in St Andrews, Tom Watson, one of only five players in the game's history to lift the Claret Jug five times, will make his final appearance in the Open at St Andrews in 2010, he confirmed at Royal Birkdale yesterday.
The champion golfer at Carnoustie in 1975, Turnberry in 1977 – the famous Duel in the Sun with Jack Nicklaus – Muirfield in 1980 and Troon in 1982, Watson will say his goodbyes to the tournament which defined his career on the links where he suffered
the greatest frustration.
Though he would not go so far as to regard not winning in the Auld Toun as a regret, Watson is content with his status as one of history's most prolific winners on the seaside links of Britain.
"The magnitude of winning five championships, you know, I've honestly never given it a second thought," he said. "I kind of live in the now, not the past or the future. It's wonderful to have so many good memories – it's just a pity I can't recall half of them...
"Playing links golf has always been a great pleasure to me. I've enjoyed the feel of the courses, the feel of the crowds and the history of the game. The crowds here are more knowledgeable than ours in the States. Golf is more part of the fabric of life here. That makes me feel good. You feel like you're part of an environment in which you're very welcome."
Now that past champions are only exempt until 60, Watson only has two more visits to make to Scotland in the event he dominated in the Seventies and Eighties. He'll make one more visit next summer to the Ailsa, scene of the greatest last day in championship history, and call it quits after crossing the Swilcan bridge in 2010. Ironically, St Andrews was the only one of the five Scottish venues where Watson didn't win the Open. In 1984, he had an opportunity to complete the Scottish Slam of Muirfield, Carnoustie, Troon, Turnberry and St Andrews until, as Dave Marr described, he hit the wrong shot at the wrong time on the wrong hole – an overly ambitious 2 iron to the 17th green which went through the green and crossed the road.
"Yes, I had my opportunities in St Andrews in 1978 and 1984 to play well and win. But I took one away from Nick Price, you might say, at Troon. Like the bounces, it all balances out. That 2 iron, well, I just tried to hit a heroic shot, put it in the air and land it on the green. It wasn't the right shot to play."
The 2 iron which did work, of course, was struck 12 months earlier on the home hole at Birkdale. If the shot on the 17th at St Andrews is the one Watson would board the Tardis to play again, the 2 iron to the green on the home hole here was "the greatest 2 iron I ever hit...It was nice seeing the ball come down right at the flag, but I never saw it land. The crowd just collapsed. My caddie had said 'quit hooking', but I replied: 'The wind will bring it back.' And it came right back. I didn't know how close it was (20 feet], but I knew I could get it down in two."
While Birkdale was Watson's last moment of glory in the majors – he didn't add to his haul of eight after the error at St Andrews a year later – it's interesting to debate if he might have won six had he not missed Royal St George's in 1981 for the birth of his daughter. The champion the year before Bill Rogers won as well as the next two, Watson was even more dominant in the Open 25 years ago than Tiger Woods is today.
Little wonder, then, Watson has never regarded any individual as bigger than the game itself. Asked if he thought the Open champion in 2008 should have an asterisk against his name, denoting the absence of Woods, Watson was scathing. "I think that's foolish, just a foolish thought. There's not a question that when you look at a leaderboard you look for Tiger's name.
"The bottom line about who is going to win is that it's kind of open. As Tim Finchem (chief executive of the US PGA Tour] said: 'It's time for the other players to step up and see who's got it.'"
