Tom Watson

Golfer

• Born: September 4, 1949
• Place of Birth: Kansas City, Missouri

SPORT: Golf

Early Life

Thomas Sturges Watson was born on September 4, 1949, in Kansas City, Missouri. His father, an insurance executive, was an avid amateur golfer, and Tom became a caddy for his father at the Kansas City Country Club at the age of six.

Tom displayed both talent and enthusiasm for golf and, by his teen years, had won several amateur tournaments. He came under the influence of Stan Thirsk, the professional at the Kansas City club, who taught him the basic swing Tom used throughout his career.

The pattern of early interest and talent is standard among topflight golfers, but in one aspect Tom’s development was unusual. He attended Stanford University and graduated with a degree in psychology in 1971. His university career was not a sideline to his pursuit of athletic excellence; quite the contrary, Tom manifested high intelligence as well as physical skill. In golf, he became known as a thinking person’s player.

The Road to Excellence

Because of his talent, intelligence, and keen desire to win, Tom soon attracted attention after he turned professional in 1972. He put in countless hours of practice and became known for his extraordinary seriousness about his game.

In 1973, he seemed destined for early triumph. Playing in the US Open at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, New York, Tom led the tournament for three rounds. He collapsed in the final round with a disastrous seventy-nine and won no tournaments during the entire year.

At this point, Tom came into contact with Byron Nelson, an outstanding player of the 1930s and 1940s, who is regarded as one of the foremost golfers of all time. Nelson advised Tom about technical faults in his swing. Principally, Tom was failing to shift his weight properly from right-to-left during the downswing. His quick swing tempted him to avoid the necessary weight shift.

Nelson also gave Tom advice about the psychological side of golf. He urged him not to despair over his collapse during the 1973 US Open. Such things happen to nearly every golfer, but the true test of a champion is how they cope with them.

The Emerging Champion

Tom showed he had taken Nelson’s lessons to heart. He made the necessary changes in his swing and established himself as one of the outstanding golfers of the 1970s. In 1977, he won both the British Open and The Masters, two of the four tournaments that constitute golf’s major championships.

Even more significant than Tom’s victories were the circumstances under which he achieved them. In both events, he was locked in rivalry with Jack Nicklaus, generally considered one of the top two or three golfers of all time. In the 1977 Masters, Tom held a three-stroke lead over Nicklaus after the first thirty-six holes of play. Nicklaus proceeded to shoot the next two rounds in seventy and sixty-six. The latter score was astonishingly low because in major championships, the courses are exceptionally difficult, and subpar scores are rare.

Tom could not equal Nicklaus’s last two rounds. He scored a seventy and sixty-seven, however, and thus lost only one stroke of his lead, even after Nicklaus’s surge. Tom had conclusively shown that he could withstand pressure.

Tom repeated his triumph over Nicklaus at the 1977 British Open. The two were paired for the last two rounds. Nicklaus shot a sixty-five, only to be matched by Watson. Not to be outdone, Nicklaus returned the next day to shoot a sixty-six. Watson responded with a sixty-five, winning the tournament by a stroke. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Tom became the tour’s leading money-winner, supplanting Nicklaus, and won two Masters Tournaments and five British Opens.

Continuing the Story

One essential for a great golfer had eluded Tom: victory in the US Open, the most important American tournament. Every great American player except Sam Snead had won this event. Tom’s turn came in 1982. In that year, the US Open was played at the difficult Pebble Beach course in California, a site Tom knew well. At the end of three rounds, Tom seemed in a good position to win the event. Once more, the great Nicklaus proved to be the major obstacle. Nicklaus had a characteristically excellent final round. Finishing before Tom, Nicklaus watched from the clubhouse to see whether Tom could hold on to his lead. Once more, Tom proved equal to the pressure. At the seventeenth hole, he sank a long second shot to give him a birdie. This shot proved enough, and he won the US Open by two strokes.

During the early 1980s, Tom seemed established as the foremost golfer in the world. Not only had he won a number of major titles, but he had also bested Nicklaus in several head-to-head confrontations. Although he by no means always defeated Nicklaus, he seemed to hold the edge in their rivalry.

However, Tom’s play during the late 1980s did not equal the supreme achievements of his struggles with Nicklaus. Although Tom continued to do well throughout the 1980s, he was not able to establish a long-standing dominance over the game in the style of Nicklaus. Nevertheless, he remained a threat in any tournament he entered.

Tom had limited success on the PGA Tour during the early 1990s. He won the Memorial Tournament in 1996 and the MasterCard Colonial in 1998. In 1999, Tom joined the Senior Tour. Playing in only two official events in his first year, he won one and finished in the top twenty-five in the second. Tom also played in thirteen PGA tournaments.

In 2000, Tom had greater success in both PGA and PGA Senior Tour tournaments. He shot a final round sixty-six to win the IR Senior Tour Championship. He had two second-place finishes and lost two playoffs for second place. On the PGA Tour, Tom’s best finish was a tie for ninth at the PGA Championship. In 2001, Tom finished in a tie for eighth place at the MasterCard Championship.

In 2002, Tom won the PGA Senior Championship. He was victorious in both the 2003 and 2005 Senior British Open. In 2007, Tom won the Outback Pro-Am, the Senior British Open, and the Legends of Golf, and finished in the top ten in eight other tournaments. The following year, he defended his Outback Pro-Am title, finishing nine strokes under par.

In early 2003, Bruce Edwards, Tom’s long-time caddy, announced that he had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. That year, Edwards continued to caddy for Tom, and both men devoted a great deal of time to fundraisers to help find a cure for the debilitating and fatal disorder. Tom received a special exemption to the US Open that year, and his outstanding play in the early rounds, assisted by an ailing Edwards, was a thrilling and emotional event. The disease prevented Edwards from traveling to Britain, where Tom won the first of his three Senior British Opens. At the end of the season, Watson announced that he was donating his million-dollar season bonus to medical research. In April 2004, Edwards became the only caddy to win the prestigious Ben Hogan Award, but he was too ill to attend the ceremony and died the next day.

Tom designed six golf courses, including one in Ireland and one in Japan. Although the days when he battled weekly with Nicklaus for the title of top player were long gone, he remained one of the most popular players in golf as the twenty-first century unfolded. In 2009, defying his age, he almost won the British Open, losing in a playoff to Stewart Cink. In 2015, he became the oldest player to play under par at the Masters; however, after the 2016 Masters, he announced that it was the last time he would compete in that tournament. In 2018, Watson won the Masters Tournament Par 3 Contest, the oldest player ever to do so, and, in 2019, he played in his final Senior British Open. In 2024, Watson was an honorary starter at the Masters Tournament alongside former rival Jack Nicklaus.

Summary

Tom Watson showed unusual talent and enthusiasm for golf from his early youth. His ability was combined with high intelligence and the determination to devote unlimited time toward perfecting his game. In his early years as a professional, he became a protégé of Byron Nelson, who advised him on his swing. Tom became the golfer of the 1970s, doing so in dramatic fashion. He defeated Jack Nicklaus by close scores in several major championships.

Bibliography

Corcoran, Mike. Duel in the Sun: Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus in the Battle of Turnberry. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2005.

Feinstein, John. Caddy for Life: The Bruce Edwards Story. Boston: Little, 2004.

Golf Magazine’s Encyclopedia of Golf: The Complete Reference. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.

Kelly, Todd. “Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson Masters 2024 Honorary Starters.” Golfweek, 11 Apr. 2024, golfweek.usatoday.com/gallery/photos-masters-2024-honorary-starters-jack-nicklaus-gary-player-tom-watson. Accessed 11 June 2024.

“Not So Elementary, Watson.” Golf Magazine, vol. 49.3, 2007, p. 131.

Posnanski, Joe. The Secret of Golf: The Story of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. New York: Simon, 2015.

Spearman, Mitchell. “Big Play.” Sports Illustrated, vol. 107.5, 2007, p. G14.

Watson, Tom, and Nick Seitz. Tom Watson’s Getting Back to Basics. New York: Pocket, 1992.

Watson, Tom, and Nick Seitz. Tom Watson’s Strategic Golf. Turnbull: Golf Digest, 1993.