Tom Watson, A Tribute

"Whatever she gave away today, she'll take back tomorrow."

Those are the words of five-time Open champion Tom Watson. Oh, how right he was. On day one the course was forgiving, with virtually no wind creating very playable conditions for golfers. 

"The Old Lady was there for the taking," Watson suggested. "She didn’t have her clothes on today." 

On day two however, playing conditions were drastically changed. With wind gusts recorded at up to 50 miles per hour in the afternoon, golfers were scrambling to make par rather than post low scores like the day previous. Play was even suspended for an hour and five minutes because of the high winds.

"This golf course was tough today and as I said on Thursday, she was naked yesterday but she put on her boxing gloves today and just hit us with all she had," said Watson.

Watson shot +3 on Friday in the harsh conditions to fall to +4 for the tournament, missing the cut in his last Open at the iconic St. Andrew’s Old Course. This came as a major disappointment to me, as Tom Watson is my favourite golfer. I’m not the only the one, as Watson received the loudest crowd ovation today at the Open on the 18th hole. The loudest cheers could have been for Tiger, Phil, or local favourites Montgomery, McIlroy, Westwood, McDowell, and the beloved Sir Nick Faldo. But they weren’t. They were for a 60 year old American, an American for god’s sakes! An American though, that’s sometimes referred to in Scotland as an honourary Scot.

Why is that you may ask?  As they commonly say in Scotland, golf is a gentleman's game. Jack Nickalus was the golden bear, Arnold Palmer; the king. Tom Waston, he’s known as the gentleman. That’s one of the reasons why I like him so much. The respect he’s garnered over the years has been absolutely astounding. He plays the game the way it was meant to be played, like a true gentleman. The same unfortunately can’t be said for club-smashing Tiger whom I have the utmost disrespect for, but that’s a totally different topic all together. Watson is known to be the classiest man in golf and for that he has earned my respect. 

Now, I’m young and didn’t start watching golf until Watson’s best playing days were long behind him. I really only became a fan of him at last year’s Open Championship, where he held the lead going into the last hole but bogeyed and eventually lost the tournament in a playoff. The golf gods were on his side then, letting a man two months shy of 60 compete with players 40 years his junior. If Tom Watson won that tournament, and he sure as hell came close, it would have been the single most amazing feat in golfing history. On Friday though, the golf gods were not on his side. On his approach shot on the 18th hole, Watson landed what was a perfect shot right on the green. A fan screamed "Get in the Hole" like always, except this time it wasn't so crazy. The ball started rolling, and rolling, and people thought ‘Oh my goodness this thing is going in the hole! What an amazing way to finish your open career at St. Andrews!’ They thought that until the ball came to a dead stop, 1 inch from the hole. 1 inch! Watson had to settle for a tap-in birdie. Alas, the golf gods were not on his side this time. 

On that same hole where the almost-an-eagle-but-the-ball-fell-1-inch-short-of-the-hole approach shot happened, something else remarkable happened. Watson, who was likely playing in his last Open Championship at St. Andrews, stopped on the 18th hole while walking on the famous Swilken Bridge for a picture, a farewell, a moment, a memory. He kneeled down, kissed the bridge itself,  removed his cap, lifted his arms, and waved to the fans. It was as if Tom was thanking the fans, while at the same time the fans were thanking Tom. That was the huge crowd ovation I was talking about earlier. With the setting sun in the background, it made for an iconic moment in golf history. A moment that I, along with millions of other golf fans will never forget.

Thank-you for playing golf like a gentleman, playing golf the right way. Thank-you for showing us that it’s sometimes not all about winning on the golf course. Thank-you for exciting us all with your perfect shot on the 18th hole that was oh so close to going in. Thank-you for being my favourite golfer of all time. Thank-you, Tom Watson.

St. Andrews has said goodbye to a legend.