What did it say about Tom Watson’s character the way he handled the press conference after coming so close to winning the Open at the age of 59 in 2009?
I think everybody who followed golf, anybody that was a golf fan, was very touched with how Tom was able to roll back the years from the 1970s and ’80s and actually put himself in a position to win again.
And I think as impressive was the way he handled himself in that position. Unfortunately he didn’t win, and I think most people in golf would have loved to have seen him win, but the way he controlled his emotion as he went through the play off, and how he acted as a gentleman in defeat was very impressive.
Did that give you a different impression of Tom Watson than maybe you had before?
Well, I wasn’t around to see Tom Watson play his best golf, but in 2009 he kind of rolled back the years and played his best golf again, so it was refreshing for me to be able to see the Tom Watson of old.
How impressed were you by the way Rory McIlroy bounced back to win the US Open?
Yeah, for Rory to have that disappointment at Augusta last year would have been a tough one to take for him. But to see how he dealt with that, how he managed to take it within himself to prepare properly for the next major, and to come out as strong as he did to win the US Open, for me shows how good a player he is.
I mean, he’s in his early 20s and he was able to deal with that disappointment. He was able to walk away, sit back and reflect upon it and actually come out and win in an incredible fashion at the US Open.
