Tom Watson (golfer)
| 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 | 64 (PGA Tour: 39, Other regular: 5 Champions Tour: 12, Other senior: 8) |
| Best Results in Major Championships Wins: 8 |
|
| Masters | Won 1977, 1981 |
| U.S. Open | Won 1982 |
| The Open | Won 1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983 |
| PGA Championship | 2nd: 1978 |
| Awards | |
| World Golf Hall of Fame | 1988 |
| 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 |
| Old Tom Morris Award | 1992 |
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 through 1982, and in both 1983 and 1984 was second in those rankings behind Seve Ballesteros by only the barest of margins. He spent 32 weeks in the top 10 of the successor Sony Rankings in their debut in 1986.[1] 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. Watson is generally regarded as one of the greatest links players of all time, a claim backed up by his 5 Open Championship victories.
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Career outline
He was born in Kansas City, Missouri. A lifelong golfer, he was introduced to the game by his father Ray, a fine player. His early coach was Stan Thirsk at the Kansas City Country Club. He first gained local renown while on his high school team at The Pembroke-Country Day School in Kansas City. Watson won four straight Missouri State Amateur championships, from 1968-1971[2]. He began his professional golf career in 1971, the same year he graduated from Stanford University with a degree in psychology, and played on the golf team.
Watson joined the PGA Tour in 1971 after a very good (but not standout) amateur career, and gradually improved. He got into contention in a major championship for the first time in the 1974 U.S. Open at the Winged Foot Golf Club, where he led after three rounds, but faded badly in the final round. Following this disappointment, Watson was approached by legendary player Byron Nelson, who offered assistance. With Nelson's guidance on swing mechanics and course management, Watson's game advanced quickly, and he won his first title shortly afterwards at the 1974 Western Open.
He has won eight major championships on the PGA 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 50 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, with a record score of 268. The two players finished well ahead of the other challengers. They shot the same score every day, except for Sunday.
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 flag stick and landed in the cup, giving him a 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. The 17th hole chip-in is regarded as one of the greatest shots in golf history.
A memorable moment in Watson's career came at the 2003 U.S. Open, when, at age 53, 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. In 1994 when the British Open returned to Turnberry, the site of his 1977 victory, Watson commented, "Sometimes you lose your desire through the years. Any golfer goes through that. When you play golf for a living, like anything in your life, you are never going to be constant, at the top."[3] He finished tied for 11th at the British that year, 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 also missed a two foot putt on the 18th green at the 2007 Masters. He later learned that he missed the cut by only one stroke.
Champions Tour
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. St. Andrews is one of the few Open venues where Watson did not claim victory. He has 12 wins on the Champions Tour, including five senior majors, while playing a relatively limited schedule of events. 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. Englishman Luke Donald was the third member of the group.
Having resided for many years in Mission Hills, Kansas, Watson currently resides in Stilwell, Kansas with his wife, two children, and three stepchildren. He also designed the National Golf Club of Kansas City golf course.
Playing style
During his prime, Watson may have been the most complete golfer ever to play the game. For a man of average size (5 ft 9 in, 160 pounds), he had abundant length coupled with sufficient accuracy, played aggressively, developed a superlative short game, and was a skilled and confident putter. Watson was renowned as the best bad-weather golfer of his era, and displayed much of this gritty talent in the difficult, changeable conditions of the British Open.
Distinctions and honors
- Watson was named PGA Player of the Year 6 times, 1977-1980, 1982 and 1984, and trails only Tiger Woods who was named 9 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 victorious 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.
- Member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame
- 1992 GCSAA Old Tom Morris Award
- 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.[4]
- He became involved with golf course design in the early 1990s.
- Watson is the author or co-author of a number of books, including Tom Watson's Strategic Golf.
- He has written a golf instruction column in Golf Digest magazine since the mid-1970s.
- Watson was ranked at the 10th greatest golfer of all time in the 2000 Golf Digest magazine list.[5]
- Watson is only the second Golf Professional Emeritus at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The only other golfer to hold that position was Sam Snead.
Major Championships
Wins (8)
| Year | Championship | 54 Holes | Winning Score | Margin | 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)
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 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | CUT | CUT | T40 | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT |
| U.S. Open | T27 | DNP | DNP | T28 | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| The Open Championship | T55 | CUT | CUT | T18 | DNP | T41 | T48 | DNP | CUT |
| PGA Championship | T9 | T66 | T48 | CUT | DNP | DNP | 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
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.
Other wins (5)
- 1980 Dunlop Phoenix (Japan Golf Tour)
- 1984 Australian Open
- 1992 Hong Kong Open
- 1994 Skins Game
- 1997 Dunlop Phoenix (Japan Golf Tour)
Champions Tour wins (12)
- 1999 (1) Bank One Championship
- 2000 (1) IR Senior Tour Championship
- 2001 (1) Senior PGA Championship
- 2002 (1) Senior Tour Championship at Gaillardia
- 2003 (2) Senior British Open, JELD-WEN Tradition
- 2005 (2) Senior British Open, Charles Schwab Cup Championship
- 2007 (2) Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, Senior British Open
- 2008 (2) Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Andy North)
Senior majors are shown in bold.
Other senior wins (8)
- 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
- 2005 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Raphael Division (with Andy North)
- 2006 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Raphael Division (with Andy North)
- 2007 Wendy's Champions Skins Game (with Jack Nicklaus), Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Raphael Division (with Andy North)
Golf courses designed
Watson has designed golf courses through his Tom Watson Design company in Kansas[6]
- Ballybunion Golf Club – County Kerry, Ireland (1995 redesign)
- Cassique Golf Course, Kiawah Island, South Carolina
- National Golf Club of Kansas City, Parkville, Missouri (Route 45 which passes the course is called the “Tom Watson Parkway”)
- Independence Course at Reunion Resort & Club, Orlando, Florida
- Phoenix Resort, Miyazaki, Japan
- The Links at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, California (with Sandy Tatum and Robert Trent Jones, Jr.)
- Shadow Glen the Golf Club, Olathe, Kansas (with Jay Morrish and Tom Weiskopf)
See also
- Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
- Golfers with most major championship wins
- Golfers with most Champions Tour wins
- Golfers with most Champions Tour major championship wins
- Most wins in one PGA Tour event
- Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
References
- ↑ 69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking
- ↑ Missouri Golf Association
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/dp/1602390142/ The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations, ed. Jim Apfelbaum 2007
- ↑ Race & Ethnic Relations, 7th edition, Marger 2006
- ↑ Yocom, Guy (July 2000). "50 Greatest Golfers of All Time: And What They Taught Us". Golf Digest. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
- ↑ gincompany.com press release
External links
- Profile on PGA Tour's official site
- Tom Watson on About.com - profile and stats
- Tom Watson Profile at Golf Legends
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