We watch as Tom Watson, a 59 year old player, is allowed to compete in the same tournament as the best professionals in the world. In a major championship. The British Open.
After 1 round he is in first place with a blistering 5 under and everyone is polite. Tremendous accomplishment. And everyone is thinking.. he’ll fade tomorrow. Instead, he shoots another great round of golf and is tied for the lead going into the weekend. He is 59!!! Tiger Woods, the OTHER golfer from Stanford, doesn’t even make the cut!
Enter Round 3 yesterday, and the winds are typically savage. They humble the best players in the world. This’ll be the day that Watson crumbles. He is 59!!! He had his hip replaced last year!!! But once again we saw yet another brilliant performance from Watson. On a day that few (try 5) golfers in the entire field could break par, Watson shoots one over and takes sole possession of first place after 54 holes.
If Tom Watson wins the British Open, it will be the #1 story of 2009 in all of sports. That is why we have to acknowledge it here on a football blog. When Nicklaus won at Augusta in 1986 at the age of 46, it shook the world. To put this in perspective, it was here at Turnberry THIRTY TWO YEARS AGO that Watson was busy fending off Nicklaus in an epic battle for a major championship. It is 2009. What is Watson doing here?! I’ll tell you what he is doing- he is trying to make MORE history.
We have already seen three amazing feats. Can he hold it together and pull it off?
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