Tom Watson Talked – The R&A, Euro Tour Listened!
Tom Watson suggested to the R&A and European Tour that The Senior British Open should be played at St. Andrews. They listened.
Tom Watson, five-time winner of The Open Championship, three-time winner of the Senior British Open, must have been smiling. In seven degree weather at the R&A Clubhouse in St. Andrews, the announcement was made: The Senior British Open will be played at St. Andrews in 2018. Watson was on the phone to hear it.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to have that next appearance at St Andrews,” Watson said. “One of the things that I said to the organizers of the Senior Open, The R&A, The European Tour, the fact that it is played on The Open Championship venues, the Carnousties as it is this year, and the Royal Birkdales is one of the main reasons that people come over and play it.”
According to Kieth Pelley, Chief Executive of The European Tour, the reason the championship will go to St. Andrews is because Tom Watson suggested it. As a multiple British Open champ, his voice carries weight there, including with the R&A which is headquartered adjacent to the Old Course.
“Over the years, many of the competitors who will be competing in 2018 will have graced these fairways and performed and enjoyed themselves in many ways,” said Martin Slumbers, the Chief Executive of The R&A. “For me, and I think for many others, it will be a real pleasure to watch them tackle the course again and bring back many memories, as well as new experiences.”
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Tom Watson relishes the chance to play the Old Course again.
“I still feel as if just yesterday I played in my first Open Championship at Carnoustie,” Watson insisted. “I remember the trip over; the times with Keith Mackenzie; the subsequent years of success and failure. But I remember them very, very well. And it’s part of who I am, and I’m very grateful for having had the opportunity to play in it, and obviously do so well.”
He recalled the way he felt when he played in his last British Open at St. Andrews and likened it to what he imagined Bobby Jones must have felt the last time he played the Old Course in 2015 when he was granted a special exemption to participate.
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“My final walk across the Swilcan Bridge was really something that obviously I’ll always remember, especially having the vision of what Bobby Jones must have felt like when he played his friendly match there so many years after he retired from competitive golf walking up the 18th hole with the whole town of St Andrews literally coming out to see him,” Watson said, adding that he doesn’t put himself in the same category as Jones. “I just had a vision, a flash, a vision of what it was like walking up the 18th hole with so many people around it.”
Watson would like to have a better finish this time at the 18th than the last, when he shanked an iron and three-putted the final green. It was nearly dark, although Watson said it was still light enough to read putts. They were offered a chance to stop at the 18th tee, and Watson deferred to Ernie Els and Brandt Snedeker, who declined to stop playing.
“Although I still feel as if I might be able to compete on some of the links courses against the kids, this year is a good example of where I can’t compete, and that’s at Augusta National. I can’t compete on that golf course because of its length,” Watson added. “At St Andrews, I had some difficulty. I had some real difficulty with some of the distance there, particularly on 17, but almost everybody had difficulty with that into the east wind.”
On the 18th, he told his son Michael, no tears, just joy.
“That’s when I looked up at the crowd at the 18th and thought of Bobby Jones coming up that last hole,” Watson continued. “He had started out with very few people, and it ended with a multitude of people from the sound of St. Andrews to watch him finish his round of golf. That was just a wonderful experience and it will always be a mark in my memory of my career, big mark in my memory.”
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Two years from now, Watson will have yet another chance to walk up the 18th at St. Andrews. This time, it’s unlikely he will shank.