tom watson

Before you do anything, just sit down and take a look at Tom Watson’s career resumé. OK – sharp inhalation of breath –  here goes: 39 PGA Tour titles, eight Majors; eight Champions Tour wins; six PGA Player of the Year awards; six-time PGA Tour Player of the Year; five-time PGA Tour money leader; five Open Championships; three-time PGA Tour Vardon Trophy winner; two Masters; a US Open; Honorary Member of the R&A; World Golf Hall of Fame member; tireless charity worker; and, not least, a thoroughly nice bloke.

You know, when I was a kid growing up in the ceaseless gloom of Rochdale viewing golf on TV, there was only ever one player really worth watching. Jack Nicklaus was just a name from yesteryear, Seve Ballesteros had yet to really make his mark on the game and Nick Faldo, well, he was just some scrawny kid who thought he knew it all. No, for me, the man was Tom Watson.

Elegant and slender, Watson looked good but played even better – he had it all. Every July he seemed to pitch up at the Open and just help himself to the Claret Jug, time after time after time – nobody could touch him. Indeed, there were times when he just seemed to be playing a different game to everybody else. Which, of course, he was. Who else, after all, had the balls to go toe-to-toe with Nicklaus so many times and win? And, who else could wear trousers like he did and get away with it?

Today he sounds exactly like he did during his winners’ speeches when I was a kid – he looks much the same, too.

“You going to Hoylake?” he asks.

“Yeah, we’ll all be there,” I respond.

“Well, make sure you come over and say hello,” he says. “And bring those pretty girls with you!”

» Tom Watson Part 1