Open runner-up proving he has stamina for another title tilt

Published on Wednesday 22 July 2009 22:42

TOM Watson is ready to start picking on guys his own age again when the Senior Open Championship starts today.

After coming within an eight-foot putt of becoming golf's oldest major champion at Turnberry on Sunday, Watson is already displaying reserves of stamina unexpected from a 59-year-old as he tries for a fourth senior Open title. The American said he only had one hour of sleep after he bogeyed the 72nd hole and then lost a play-off to Stewart Cink in Ayrshire, but he was right back on the course to play full rounds at Sunningdale on Monday and Tuesday. He followed that with an extensive session on the practice range yesterday.

"My mum and dad were flexible and in good shape well into their 70s," Watson said. "I come from good genes there."

Watson would be forgiven for spending his days lamenting that final putt at the 18th, but says he is more interested in looking to the future.

"This, too, shall pass," he said. "It's onward to the next week and forget what you did in the past, except where it might help you play better golf."

He may need his very best golf to see off this year's Senior Open field, seen as the strongest in the history of the event. It is headed by Bernhard Langer, far and away the most dominant player on the Champions Tour this year with four victories. Three other top Europeans from the same era – Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo – are also in the field along with all the leading senior Americans.

At 6,616 yards, Sunningdale is fairly short by Champions Tour standards, where the average is around 7,000 yards.

"But at the same time, we can't hit driver here on many holes because it doesn't pay to hit driver and bring in all the trouble," said Langer. "So that makes the second shot longer." Greg Norman, who challenged for the Open title last year before faltering on the final round, is looking to bounce back from missing the cut last week as he struggled with a back problem. "My back was bad. But I've had physio every day since and it's much better now," Norman said.

Watson is trying to keep alive his streak of winning the event every other year, after taking the title in 2003, 2005 and 2007. "Keeping the sequence would be nice," he said.