It’s one of life’s great ironies that we sometimes don’t fully appreciate great moments until they’ve passed us by. We don’t get to enjoy our time over, so the recent opportunity to witness the legend Tom Watson in action at the Emirates Australian Open in Sydney last month was an occasion to savour.
Jet-lagged from a flight from South Africa and deep in the grip of ‘flu, there was still no stopping the 63-year-old Watson who charmed fellow competitors and audiences alike.
From the moment he set foot on The Lakes Golf Club during a windswept Wednesday pro-am to the time he tapped in his final putt on an equally blustery Sunday, Watson’s class shone through as the rest of the field humbly followed along in his shadow.
Watson, who has five Open Championships and a Hong Kong Open title among dozens of others to his credit, may be open to a possible return Down Under in future but who knows? The last time Jack Nicklaus played in Australia was during the 1998 Greg Norman Classic at The Australian Golf Club; a course that neighbours The Lakes, redesigned originally by Nicklaus during the 1970s and in fact, again as we speak. The Golden Bear was 57-years-old at the time, made the cut and finished under par for the 72 holes – but it never occurred to us Australians at the time that we wouldn’t see him play on our turf again.
Comparing the actions of these two greats of the game in those two tournaments, it’s easy to see why Watson continues to be a threat at his age on the Champions Tour and can hold his own with much younger players, something that was most memorably highlighted in 2009 when he came within a whisker of winning The Open at Turnberry.
Watson, who was appointed US Ryder Cup captain for a second time soon after returning home (see sidebar), remains in better shape and with levels of flexibility that would put men more than half his age to shame. His physical condition is allowing him to do what Nicklaus could not when he last played in Australia.
It was significant to note the length of Watson’s swing at 63 in comparison to Nicklaus at 57. Nicklaus had long before started to become shorter in his backswing, as did Arnold Palmer in that age bracket. Watson by comparison was still supple and athletic enough to be able to swing the club back past parallel.
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