Watson Relives Old Glories Before Delighted Brits

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 16, 2009 6:58 PM CDT
Watson Relives Old Glories Before Delighted Brits
Tom Watson plays out of a bunker on the 14th.   (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Tom Watson—yep, that Tom Watson—found himself in an unusual spot today: explaining how on earth he's atop the leader board at the British Open at age 59. “I think there was some spirituality out there," he said after his 5-under-par 65, "just the serenity of it was pretty neat." Watson beat Jack Nicklaus by a stroke in a legendary duel 32 years ago on the same course, notes Bloomberg.

“I can remember every darn shot I hit in ‘77, the last round,” he said. “And it’s on record that Jack couldn’t remember any of them.” It will be a "miracle" if Watson can win, writes Graham Spiers in the London Times, but today was enough to "savor his enduring genius." As for Watson, he says he's "playing well enough to win ... but at my age sometimes a light goes on and I can play, and at other times it is too much to handle. That’s the way it is with me now."
(More Tom Watson stories.)

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