He’ll turn 67 on Sunday, but Tom Watson isn’t prepared to start acting his age.
The legend, winner of eight majors, is playing his first Shaw Charity Classic this week. And his goal is to card a 65 on the weekend to shoot better than his age.
“I’ve broken my age twice out here,” Watson said. “I shot 63 at Toshiba and I shot 65 at Pebble Beach when I was 66. But I haven’t equaled my age.”
Watson’s game and his eloquent long swing are timeless. He nearly won the British Open at 59 and though he won’t turn up at the British Open or the Masters, that doesn’t mean he’s not competitive. The desire is there even if his ageless golf game occasionally doesn’t do what Watson wants.
“To put it all together is what I still compete to do and I prepare to do,” Watson said. “If I get into that groove and start swinging and hit those good shots, that’s where I’m trying to get to. That’s what I want to do.”
And no, this week Watson said his game isn’t exactly where he wants it, but that likely doesn’t matter to the Shaw Charity fans who come to Canyon Meadows to see him play. He’s without question the player with the greatest record to play in the tournament over its history. In his prime his only true rival was Jack Nicklaus, and Watson, a golf hall of fame member, is one of the all-time greats. Surprisingly he’s never won in Canada, and admits with the exception of trips a couple of decades ago to play the Canadian Open in Toronto, he’s not spent much time in the country. That’s why he was planning on driving up to Banff on Thursday ahead of the start of the tournament on Friday. He had relatives, a “rich uncle”, who used to travel from Kansas to Banff when Watson was a boy and would tell him about the mountains.
Watson was intrigued: “I’m a mountain guy.”
“My great uncle and aunt used to come up here in the summers,” Watson explained. “They always told me when I was a little boy how beautiful Banff was. It is good to be up here.”
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These days Watson is more likely to talk about his love for horses (“It’s a new passion, a new place to go.”), and the fact he’s struggling because he’s simply not playing the number of tournaments he used to.
“I have to say that I’m at a disadvantage because to get that tournament edge, you’ve got to play a lot more than I do,” he said. “But I still feel as if I can do that and still compete against these young old boys out here.”
Is he prepared to take a more ceremonial role? Watson seems to resigned to the fact that might be his place in the game going forward.
“A great ambassador is equal to legend, which equals old,” Watson said. “That’s what it is.”
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