Monday 20 July 2015 18:18, UK
Tom Watson graced the Open Championship for 40 years before bidding an emotional farewell at St Andrews. We take a look back at his five victories, and the one that got away ...
There had been doubts about the ability of the man from Kansas to win at the highest level, but they proved unfounded. Watson would go on and dominate The Open with five victories in nine years and claimed eight major titles in all.
In near darkness at St Andrews on Friday, Watson bid farewell to his fabled Open career.
Here, we look back at Watson's five wins ... and his near-miss in 2009.
1975
Tom Watson sealed his maiden Claret Jug to become only the third player since the war to win the Open on his debut, emulating the achievements of Ben Hogan and Tony Lema.
David Huish, the club professional from North Berwick, held at the halfway mark with rounds of 69 and 67, but then crumbled under the pressure as he carded scores of 76 and 80 to tie for 32nd place. With conditions calm and sunny at Carnoustie, Jack Newton broke the day-old course record with a 65 in the third round to lie one behind South Africa’s Bobby Cole, with Watson two shots further back.
Watson went out in 35 in the wind on the final day, but then had three three-putts in a row. Johnny Miller led playing the last but took a bogey while Watson stayed calm to hole from 15 feet for a birdie. Cole needed a birdie at the last to tie but could only join Miller and Jack Nicklaus in a share of third place, while Newton parred to tie Watson on 11 under par after missing from 20 feet for the victory.
And so it went to a play-off in the rain on Sunday and it proved to be a tight affair, but the 25-year-old Watson held his nerve to win 71-72. They were tied playing the last but the Australian bunkered his approach and missed from 18 feet to match Watson’s par.
It was the last 18-hole play-off in The Open, with a four-hole format later adopted, while Carnoustie would have to wait until 1999 to host The Open again.
1977
This was one of the greatest Championships ever staged and became knows as the 'Duel in the Sun' after a two-horse race between Watson, winner of the Masters earlier that year, and Jack Nicklaus.
They were tied on 138 after two rounds and both had 65s on the third day in heatwave conditions at Turnberry, the most scenic of courses on the Ayrshire coast. Nicklaus quickly established a three-stroke lead in the final round but Watson rallied and holed from 60 feet at the 15th to get level. "This is what it’s all about, isn’t it?" Watson said on the next tee. "You bet it is," Nicklaus replied.
A birdie at the par-5 17th put Watson in front for the first time and at the last he hit a 7-iron to two feet. Nicklaus had driven into the rough by a gorse bush but smashed an 8-iron to the edge of the green and dramatically holed from 35 feet. Now Watson’s putt looked a bit longer but he tapped in for victory.
His closing 65 was the lowest score ever to win an Open and gave him a new record total of 268 and also set a new best of 130 for the last 36 holes. Both players left the 18th green arm-in-arm, each a two-time Open Champion. Rarely had two players produced such a high quality of golf amid so much drama. "I just couldn’t shake him off," Nicklaus said.
Hubert Green, 10 behind Nicklaus, was the only other player to break par. "I won the tournament I played. They were playing in something else," he said.
1980
The Open was scheduled to finish on a Sunday for the first time in history, but it was Watson's performance on Saturday that brought the American his third Claret Jug, also proving that he was comfortable leading from the front.
Both Watson and Lee Trevino had 68s to lead the first round and then Trevino had a 67 to go three ahead of Watson, Ken Brown and Jerry Pate.
In the third round Isao Aoki, the Japanese player who was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus at the US Open at Baltusrol a few weeks earlier, scored a 63, the second recorded in The Open but the first ever at Muirfield. Watson then almost matched him. He went out in 34 and came home in 30 for a 64 to lead by four strokes.
Then, in the final round it was Watson’s burst of five birdies in six holes from the seventh that sealed his victory. No one bettered his 69 for the day and, on a total of 271, he won by four from Trevino and by six from Ben Crenshaw with Nicklaus tying for fourth place.
Once again Watson had shown his command of links golf by beating the two previous Muirfield Champions.
1982
Watson won a fourth Open title on a fourth different Scottish links and in the process joined Bobby Jones (twice), Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Lee Trevino in winning both the US Open and The Open in the same summer. Yet Watson only entered the story late on at Royal Troon.
Bobby Clampett had a 67 and then a 66 to lead by five strokes at the halfway stage. Two early birdies in the third round put Clampett seven clear of the field but then the fairy tale turned into a nightmare for the 22-year-old American playing in his first Open. At the par-5 sixth, the longest Championship hole in Britain at 577 yards, Clampett found three bunkers and took a triple-bogey 8. A 78 still left him one ahead but a 77 on the final day dropped him into a tie for 10th.
Watson stayed in contention with rounds of 69, 71 and 74. He had been seven off the lead after 36 holes and three adrift with a round to play. Out in 35, he hit a 3-iron to three feet for an eagle at the 11th and in the deteriorating conditions dropped only one shot coming home for a 70 and four under par.
With birdies at the 10th, 11th and 12th holes, Zimbabwean Nick Price led by three but he bogeyed the 13th, had a double bogey at the 15th after hitting his second shot into a bunker and dropped another shot at the par-3 17th. He eventually had to settle for second place which he shared with Peter Oosterhuis. Watson said: "I didn’t win this Championship, I had it handed to me."
1983
A year later Watson won his fifth Open title, putting him alongside James Braid, JH Taylor and Peter Thomson and one behind Harry Vardon’s record six Claret Jugs. It was his first victory in England and came in fine conditions at Royal Birkdale.
Hale Irwin and Andy Bean’s eight-under score became the target for Watson to beat. He had taken the lead after 54 holes but dropped two shots going out and Nick Faldo had briefly taken the lead before dropping back on the second nine to finish eighth.
Watson birdied the 11th, the 13th and the 16th holes and needed to par the last for a famous victory. After he drove onto the fairway, he had 218 yards to the flag and produced the sweetest of swings with a 2-iron just when he needed it.
He had wasted no time, just two waggles of the club head, but maintained superb rhythm. "I busted that 2-iron as well as I could hit it," he said. He two-putted from 20 feet and an historic fifth and final Open was his.
2009
At the age of 59 and 32 years after his last Open triumph and nine months on from hip-replacement surgery, Watson birdied the 71st hole to lead by one and it appeared he really could win a sixth Open title.
On a course where he had played in three Opens, winning in 1977, and two Senior Opens, winning one of them, Watson opened with a 65 to be one off the lead. "There was something spiritual about today. I feel inspired playing here again," he said. He led for the next two days but fell at the very last hurdle.
"It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn’t it?" Watson said. "It wasn’t to be. The dream almost came true." His second shot at the last ran just over the green and then he putted eight feet past the hole. The putt for victory betrayed his age, it never looked like going in and the deflation around the course was acute.
Instead, step forward Stewart Cink. In the slightly surreal atmosphere of the four-hole play-off, the 36-year-old gentle giant from Georgia held his composure to win his first major championship. He was two under par for the play-off while a tired Watson finished four over par.
A joyful Cink felt for the runner-up. "To play against Tom Watson in the play-off, it was mixed emotions," he said. "I have watched him with such admiration this week."
