Golfer Tom Watson Takes Loss In His Stride

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

Now, getting over it, getting on with it and turning 60: A talk with Tom Watson. The golfer is joining us from Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire, England, west of London, where this week, they are playing the British Senior Open. That's for the over 50s. On the doorstep of age 60, Tom Watson came within a putt of winning the other British Open on Sunday. He lost the lead on the last hole of regulation play and then lost the playoff to Stewart Cink.

Tom Watson, welcome to the program.

Mr. TOM WATSON (Professional Golfer): Thank you, Robert. Glad to be here.

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SIEGEL: You've spoken of your disappointment about not winning the Open. How do you put that behind you? How, as a competitor - do you get past it or is it still coming back on you all the time?

Mr. WATSON: No, it's not. It's, you know, I look at what exactly happened. I played the last hole the way I meant to play. Jack Nicklaus called me and said, you know, Tom, you played two perfect shots to the final hole and just wasn't there. And actually, when the ball went over the green on the last hole, he said, you hit the right shot with the putter and it just didn't work out. You know, that was soothing to me. And actually, physically and mentally, over the years after a disappointment like that, you usually have come back and played, you know, some special golf after that. I had a great disappointment in 1974 when I had the lead in the United States Open and I shot a 79 in the last round. And two weeks later, I won my first tournament, the Western Open in Chicago. So sometimes, these things inspire me.

SIEGEL: You can build on disappointment, you're saying. Your caddie, Neil Oxman, told me yesterday, only half facetiously I think, that he thinks the last words he will ever utter in his life will be, Tom should have used the nine iron on the...

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WATSON: No. Neil - I asked him what - you know, what do you think you ought to hit? An eight-iron? And I think that he was right and I was right. And the nine-iron might have put me on the green but, heck, I could have hit the nine-iron three inches fat and came up 50 yards short.

SIEGEL: That's right, could have come up...

Mr. WATSON: Fifty yards short.

SIEGEL: You mentioned Jack Nicklaus. I heard him on ESPN today on a recording, remarking on what a great achievement it was coming in second at the Open at age 59. Can you accept that, that this is an amazing thing for all people age 59 and over?

Mr. WATSON: Well, I don't put it in perspective of age. I put it in perspective of how I really felt playing in the tournament. I felt like I could win the tournament, especially after round two. I came back after a sorry start on the outgoing nine in round two and came back and played some very good golf to stay in the lead, and that - I just felt that I could play the golf course well enough to win the tournament after that, and it almost happened.

SIEGEL: This week, the British Senior Open in Sunningdale - that's in England, not in Scotland. And I wonder if you could describe for non-golfers listening how - apart from the affection of the Scots for you and your affection for Scotland, what is it about the Scottish game that so suits you?

Mr. WATSON: Well, one of the things is the types of golf courses that we play the Open Championship on are, they're called links golf courses for a reason. It's defined as the land between the sea and the arable land. You can't grow anything there except maybe a little Fescue grass and, yeah, maybe a little mint grass for some greens, and that's about it. And the wonderful thing about it is that it's so unpredictable, and I didn't like it at first.

I didn't like the luck of the bounce. I didn't like the way you had to play it on the ground, and I was fighting myself, and I finally had a pretty stern conversation with myself. I said, let's give up on this. This puts you in a negative frame of mind before you even start, and I did, and it helped me win a few more Open Championships after that.

SIEGEL: Now, another issue. The governing body of the British Open has reduced the age limit for former champions from 65 to 60. I'm not sure how they calculate an age limit, but does that mean you're invited to next year's Open, you're not invited, or will it be your last under the current rules?

Mr. WATSON: Well, under - it'll be my last under the current rule unless I play well like I did this year. I concur with it. It's time for old players like me, old fogies like me, to give it up and let the young players have a chance. But I still - you know, I still have my opportunity to play in it the following year, after St. Andrews next year, if I play well at St. Andrews.

SIEGEL: So you're just up for the competition of qualifying each year now. You know, you don't think of…

Mr. WATSON: Nothing wrong with that.

SIEGEL: You wave the banner for the over-50 set there and maybe for the over-60s. Maybe you should.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WATSON: You know, the beautiful thing about the game of golf is you can play good golf and compete well into your later years, and you can't do this in basketball or football or baseball. But in golf, it's a longer live sport.

SIEGEL: Well, you're playing with your contemporaries this week at the British Senior Open. You feel good about it?

Mr. WATSON: I am. I'm playing with Greg Norman and Sandy Lyle my first two rounds here. And we've got some names out here. You know, you know these names, and that's why we're a success.

SIEGEL: Well, Tom Watson, thanks a lot for talking with us, and good luck to you.

Mr. WATSON: Robert, thank you very much.

SIEGEL: That was five-time British Open champion Tom Watson, who at 59 years old came in a very respectable second place at this year's Open. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.