An Open Championship For The Ages

Koshin Egal

Some people were lamenting over the fact that Tiger Woods had missed the cut at this year’s British Open at Turnberry in Scotland, and it is a little justifiable. I mean after all it was only the second time in his entire career that he has failed to make the cut at a major. However, what Tom Watson accomplished this weekend was ten times more exciting and more surreal than if Tiger had made the cut and won his 15^th major. When Tom Watson shot a 65 on the opening day my first thought was there’s another Golfer with that same name as a legendary golfer who was huge in the 70s and 80s. Then I found out it was indeed the very same 59 year old Tom Watson who has previously won this tournament 5 times.

Tom Watson for four days found the fountain of youth at Turnberry and it seemed he was having flashbacks to 1977 when he competed against Jack Nicklaus in one of the most memorable head-to-head competitions in golf history the “duel in the sun”. Watson was able to hit the fairways, sink birdies and play within the course not trying to overpower as so many golfers do today. All that experience coming to the forefront allowing him to never panic when he didn’t hit the green and found some tough lies and bunkers and had to deal with the difficult crosswinds of Scotland the birthplace of golf. Watson was making shots that made you almost want to check his identification to verify that he was in fact 59.

This was simple amazing to watch this unfold. Here was a man who competed against the likes of the aforementioned Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Raymond Floyd, Hale Irwin and Greg Norman. Now he was competing against the likes of Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and not only that but was comprehensively leading them through 72 holes with a realistic shot at raising his 6^th Claret Jug.

This was shaping up into a Cinderella story but very much like that fairy tale it seemed that the clock had finally struck midnight. Watson had a chance to putt for par to win it on the final hole but instead he came up short for the first time this entire weekend and bogeyed it which lead to a playoff with Stewart Cink. Though Watson was never really in the playoff, at the end of the day just as this tournament shouldn’t be remembered for Tiger Woods missing the cut but for Stewart Cink playing a very clutch final round leading to his first major. After all he had to hit the birdie on 18^th to keep the pressure on Watson and ultimately it did. Then Cink had to keep it going in the four-hole playoff. So this British Open shouldn’t be remembered as Tom Watson losing it but should be remembered for Stewart Cink winning it. But for four days Tom Watson was able to captivate and remind us that as long as you’ve got the goods and are willing than you can compete at any age. It was thrilling, fun and great to see.