http://www.register-herald.com/toda...ave-a-shot-at-a-6th-British-Open-championship
The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia
July 14, 2011
Does Watson still have a shot at a 6th British Open championship?
By Carl ‘Butch’ Antolini
Executive Editor and General Manager for Beckley Newspapers
Tom Watson set the golfing world on fire two years ago in Scotland when the legend came within inches of winning a sixth Open championship at the tender age of 60.
And even though he eventually lost in a three-hole playoff to fellow American Stewart Cink, Watson’s run at Turnberry served notice that you can’t count out wily veterans even though they may not hit it as far off the tee as the younger generation.
Watson never hesitates when he’s asked about the special place his five British Open crowns (1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983) and three senior British Open titles (2003, 2005, 2007) have in his heart. That’s because he’s all about the game’s tradition, its lore.
Yes, he has donned the green champion’s jacket at Augusta twice, defeated Jack Nicklaus in a classic showdown at Pebble Beach (thanks to his inimitable chip-in for birdie out of insanely deep grass hugging the 17th green) to claim the 1982 U.S. Open, and has carted off the hardware from dozens of other tournaments, including this year’s Senior PGA championship at Valhalla.
But nothing about the game seems to rev him up like the trip across the big pond every summer.
Last Wednesday, two days before departing for Sandwich, England, for this year’s Open — that officially starts for him at 9:32 EDT Wednesday — he was preparing to undergo some tutoring from his old mentor out in Kansas City when I caught up with him on the phone.
“Yeah, I’m getting keyed up for it,” Watson said when asked about The Open Championship. “I’m going to go out and take a lesson from my old mentor Stan Thirsk after I get off this call,” Watson added. “Stan Thirsk is a pro that I started taking lessons from when I was 11 years old.”
Thirsk, a club pro and now 83, was one of Watson’s father Ray’s golf buddies, and he took a liking to Tom, some 50 years ago now.
That Watson still relies on his longtime teacher only confirms his deep-rooted belief in the history and the importance of those golfers who came before him.
So how is Watson’s game at the present?
“I really don’t know, but I think my putting is going to come around a little bit,” he predicted. “I made a little bit of an adjustment. I haven’t been hitting the ball solidly, and I made a slight adjustment in the way I rotate my hands in the backswing and the follow through, and it seems like I’m hitting the ball more solidly, and that’s the whole purpose. If I hit it solid, I can aim it.”
And if he can do that, who knows what might happen?
A couple of years ago, when Watson, the golf pro emeritus at The Greenbrier, was standing in the clubhouse at America’s Resort waiting out a heavy downpour during his annual fall classic golf event, he readily admitted that his putting stoke, several times, prevented him from winning a number of other tournaments.
That said, does the man, approaching his 62nd birthday, really have another run in him during the sunset of his career, competing in events against some who are 40 years or more his junior?
Only he knows that. But he does seem to have a grip on what it will take for him to remain competitive.
Millions across the globe would be thrilled if he could do it again, simply because his reverence for the game has made him one of the most respected golfers of all time.
A legend in the truest sense.
— Antolini is the executive editor and general manager for Beckley Newspapers.
