Tom Watson (golfer)

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Tom Watson

Personal Information
Birth	September 4, 1949 Kansas City, Missouri
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	175 lb (79 kg)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Stilwell, Kansas
College	Stanford University
Career
Turned Pro	1971
Tours	PGA Tour (joined 1972) Champions Tour (joined 1999)
Professional wins	58 (PGA Tour: 39, Other regular: 5 Champions Tour: 9, Other senior: 5)
Major Championship results Wins: 8
Masters	Won 1977, 1981
U.S. Open	Won 1982
British Open	Won 1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983
PGA Championship	2nd: 1978
Awards
PGA Tour Money Winner	1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1984
PGA Player of the Year	1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984
Vardon Trophy	1977, 1978, 1979

Thomas Sturges "Tom" Watson (born September 4, 1949) is an American golfer on the Champions Tour, who still occasionally competes in PGA Tour events. In the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the leading players in the world, winning eight major championships and heading the PGA Tour money list five times. He was the number one player in the world, according to McCormack's World Golf Rankings, from 1978 to 1982 inclusive, and in both 1983 and 1984 was second in those rankings behind Seve Ballesteros by only the barest of margins. Several of his major victories during this period came at the expense of Jack Nicklaus, the man he replaced as number one, but their continuing rivalry and friendship served to increase golf's popularity during the time.

Contents 1 Career outline 2 PGA Tour wins (39) 3 Other regular career wins (5) 4 Champions Tour wins (9) 5 Other senior wins (5) 6 Major Championships 6.1 Wins (8) 6.2 Results timeline 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Career outline

He was born in Kansas City, Missouri. A lifelong golfer (first gaining local renown while on his high school team at The Pembroke-Country Day School in Kansas City), Watson began his golf career in 1971, the same year he graduated from Stanford University, where he was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, with a degree in psychology.

He has won eight major championships on the regular tour—two Masters (1977 and 1981), one U.S. Open (1982), and five British Opens (1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983).

His 1977 British Open victory, at Turnberry in Scotland, was especially memorable. After two rounds, he and Jack Nicklaus were one shot out of the lead and paired for the third round. Both shot 65, ending the third round three shots clear of the field. Watson and Nicklaus were again paired for the final round. On the last day, the two were tied after 16 holes. Nicklaus missed a makeable birdie putt on 17, losing his share of the lead to Watson, who birdied 17. On the 18th, Nicklaus drove into the rough, while Watson drove into the fairway. Watson's approach landed three feet from the flag, while Nicklaus, after a drive into deep rough, managed to get his approach 30 feet away. Nicklaus sank his birdie putt to finish with a 66, but Watson followed suit with his own birdie, finishing with a second straight 65 and his second Open.

Watson's U.S. Open win, in 1982 at Pebble Beach, was equally memorable. Nicklaus, playing two groups ahead of Watson in the final round, charged into a share of the lead with five consecutive birdies. When Watson reached the par-3 17th hole the two were still tied, but with Nicklaus safely in the clubhouse at 4 under par 284. Watson hit his tee shot on 17 into the rough just off the green. He faced an extremely difficult chip shot downhill on a very fast green that sloped toward the Pacific Ocean. While being interviewed on national television and fully aware of Watson's terrible predicament, Nicklaus appeared confident he was on his way to an unprecedented fifth U.S. Open championship. Watson's chip shot, amazingly, hit the flagstick and landed in the cup, giving him a near-miraculous birdie and setting the stage for yet another win over Nicklaus. Watson went on to birdie the 18th as well, for a final margin of two shots.

A memorable moment in Watson's career came at the 2003 U.S. Open, when, at age 54, he took the opening-round lead by shooting a 65 with his longtime caddy Bruce Edwards carrying his clubs. The latter would succumb to Lou Gehrig's disease on April 8, 2004 at the age of 49.

Watson's stellar play on the PGA Tour faded in the late 1980s when he began to have problems with putting although his tee to green game seemed to actually improve, but he had a revival in the late 1990s and the last of his 39 wins on the PGA Tour came at the 1998 MasterCard Colonial when he was forty eight years old. However, he has demonstrated remarkable consistency by making at least one PGA Tour cut per year since 1971, a streak of 37 years.

Watson joined the Champions Tour in 1999, the same year he earned an honorary membership of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland. Ironically, St. Andrews is one of the few Open venues where Watson did not claim victory. He has eight wins on the Champions Tour, including four senior majors. Watson was one of two players to play with Jack Nicklaus in the final two rounds of golf in Nicklaus' career, which ended at the 2005 The Open Championship on the Old Course at St Andrews. The young Englishman Luke Donald was the third member of the group.

Having resided for many years in Mission Hills, Kansas, Watson currently resides in Stillwell, Kansas with his wife, two children, and three stepchildren. He also designed the National Golf Club of Kansas City golf course.

Watson was named PGA Player of the Year 6 times, 1977-1980, 1982 and 1984, and trails only Tiger Woods who was named 7 times. He won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average three straight years: 1977, 1978, and 1979. He played on four Ryder Cup teams: 1977, 1981, 1983, and 1989 and captained the 1993 team.

In 1987, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Watson was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1988.

In 1991, Watson resigned from the Kansas City Country Club in protest to its exclusion of people of Jewish ethnicity. He subsequently rejoined after the club's acceptance of Jewish and minority members. (Race & Ethnic Relations, 7th edition, Marger 2006)

[edit] PGA Tour wins (39)

• 1974 (1) Western Open
• 1975 (2) Byron Nelson Golf Classic, The Open Championship
• 1977 (5) Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational, The Masters, Western Open, The Open Championship
• 1978 (5) Joe Garagiola-Tucson Open, Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Byron Nelson Golf Classic, Colgate Hall of Fame Classic, Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic
• 1979 (5) Sea Pines Heritage Classic, MONY Tournament of Champions, Byron Nelson Golf Classic, Memorial Tournament, Colgate Hall of Fame Classic
• 1980 (7) Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational, Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open, MONY Tournament of Champions, Greater New Orleans Open, Byron Nelson Golf Classic, The Open Championship, World Series of Golf
• 1981 (3) The Masters, USF&G New Orleans Open, Atlanta Classic
• 1982 (4) Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open, Sea Pines Heritage, U.S. Open, The Open Championship
• 1983 (1) The Open Championship
• 1984 (3) Seiko-Tucson Match Play Championship, MONY Tournament of Champions, Western Open
• 1987 (1) Nabisco Championship
• 1996 (1) Memorial Tournament
• 1998 (1) MasterCard Colonial

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] Other regular career wins (5)

• 1980 Dunlop Phoenix (Japan Golf Tour)
• 1984 Australian Open
• 1992 Hong Kong Open
• 1994 Skins Game
• 1997 Dunlop Phoenix (Japan Golf Tour)

[edit] Champions Tour wins (9)

• 1999 Bank One Championship
• 2000 IR Senior Tour Championship
• 2001 Senior PGA Championship
• 2002 Senior Tour Championship at Gaillardia
• 2003 Senior British Open, JELD-WEN Tradition
• 2005 Senior British Open, Charles Schwab Cup Championship
• 2007 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am

Senior majors are shown in bold.

[edit] Other senior wins (5)

• 1999 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Hale Irwin and Jack Nicklaus)
• 1999 Diner's Club Matches (with Jack Nicklaus)
• 2000 Hyundai Team Matches (with Jack Nicklaus)
• 2004 Wendy's Champions Skins Game
• 2007 Wendy's Champions Skins Game (with Jack Nicklaus)

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (8)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runners Up
1975	The Open Championship	3 shot deficit	-9 (71-67-69-72=279)	Playoff 1	Jack Newton
1977	The Masters	Tied for lead	-12 (70-69-70-67=276)	2 strokes	Jack Nicklaus
1977	The Open Championship (2)	Tied for lead	-12 (68-70-65-65=268)	1 stroke	Jack Nicklaus
1980	The Open Championship (3)	4 shot lead	-13 (68-70-64-69=271)	4 strokes	Lee Trevino
1981	The Masters (2)	1 shot lead	-8 (71-68-70-71=280)	2 strokes	Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus
1982	U.S. Open	Tied for lead	-6 (72-72-68-70=282)	2 strokes	Jack Nicklaus
1982	The Open Championship (4)	3 shot deficit	-4 (69-71-74-70=284)	1 stroke	Peter Oosterhuis, Nick Price
1983	The Open Championship (5)	1 shot lead	-9 (67-68-70-70=275)	1 stroke	Andy Bean, Hale Irwin

¹ Defeated Jack Newton in 18-hole playoff - Watson (71), Newton (72)

[edit] Results timeline

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
The Masters	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T8	T33	1	T2	T2
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	T29	CUT	T5	T9	7	T7	T6	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	1	CUT	1	T14	T26
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	T12	T11	9	T15	T6	2	T12

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Masters	T12	1	T5	T4	2	T10	T6	T7	T9	T14
U.S. Open	T3	T23	1	2	T11	CUT	T24	2	T36	T46
The Open Championship	1	T23	1	1	T2	T47	T35	7	T28	4
PGA Championship	T10	CUT	T9	T47	T39	T6	T16	T14	T31	T9

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Masters	T7	T3	T48	T45	13	T14	CUT	4	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	CUT	T16	CUT	T5	T6	T56	T13	64	CUT	T57
The Open Championship	CUT	T26	CUT	CUT	T11	T31	DNP	T10	CUT	CUT
PGA Championship	T19	CUT	T62	5	T9	T58	T17	CUT	CUT	CUT

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The Masters	CUT	CUT	T40	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	T27	DNP	DNP	T28	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	T55	CUT	CUT	T18	DNP	T41	T48
PGA Championship	T9	T66	T48	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tied for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary of major championship performances:

• Starts - 124
• Wins - 8
• 2nd place finishes - 7
• Top 3 finishes - 17
• Top 5 finishes - 24
• Top 10 finishes - 45
• Longest streak of Top 10s in majors - 7

[edit] See also

• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
  
• Golfers with most major championship wins
• Golfers with most Champions Tour major championship wins
• Most wins in one PGA Tour event
• Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame

[edit] External links

• pgatour.com profile
• Tom Watson on About.com - profile and stats
• Tom Watson at Golf Stars Online Directory of interviews, websites and feature articles with or about him
• Tom Watson Profile at Golf Legends