Open whistler Tom Watson is back for another Open. We took his mind
SOUTHPORT, England — It would not be a ridiculous exaggeration to say that Tom Watson changed my life. When I was a teenager, in the 1970s, falling into the sport, Watson was one of golf's rising stars and one of the game's high priests. Usually, he is one or the other, but he was both.
I was fascinated by links golf watching Watson win the 1975 British Open at Carnoustie on TV. Now this is funny: Watson's first Open – he had never played before – was my first Open; I had never he looked one before. Watson won his fifth and final Open here at Birkdale in 1983. He nearly won it again in 1984, at the Old Course. He nearly won it again in 2009 at Turnberry. He was 59 and lost in the final. I was in the press tent when he came in and said, “This is not a funeral. What a gift – four words on my way to 2,100, and a sense of balance, too.”
WATCH OUR TOM WATSON INTERVIEW HERE:
When I asked Watson for an interview at the 1991 Open at Birkdale, he said he was sure. I brought a notebook, and we sat on a wooden bench in the men's locker room. When I asked Watson for an interview at the 2026 Open at Birkdale, he said he was sure. I came with Darren Riehl, GOLF.com's creative director/producer/camera operator, and the three of us sat in a bright room on the first floor of the clubhouse with an amazing view of the 18th hole. Watson talked about 18 good times (winning in '83) and not so good times (missing the 54-hole cut as the defending champion in 1976). At that time, 36 holes were cut and 54 holes cut.
(This is a theory, not a fact: The Open used to end on a Saturday. There were many British club professionals on the course. The cut of 54 holes on Friday gave many of these professionals a chance to get to their home clubs and go to work on Saturday.)
Watson won all five of his Open tournaments with Alfie Fyles as his player. Fyles, as Watson said in an interview we did Thursday morning, “was a Southport man.”
This part about Fyles' life and times I had never known before, until Watson brought it up in our Thursday morning interview. Alfie Fyles (not to be confused with his caddy brother, Albert) worked for Gary Player when Player won the 1974 British Open at Royal Lytham. But in 1975, at Carnoustie, Player decided to bring his American caddy, Alfred Dyer, who went by “Rabbit.” Executives from IMG, the marketing agency that represented the Player, suggested to Watson that he hire Fyles for a week in Carnoustie. He did, they won, and, in '76, Watson pulled the Player: He brought the American caddy, Bruce Edwards, to the Open at Birkdale, even though Watson was 1 on 1 with Fyles, and even though Birkdale was Fyles' home course. Different times. Now caddies are important members of the “team.” Until it is considered invincible.
Watson returns to the Opens regularly in part because he represents Rolex, and Rolex is a sponsor of the Open. But the main reason he returns to the Open – he last played in 2015 at the Old Course – is because his 38 years playing in the Open is a central part of his life experience. This year, he came with his wife, Dorothy. On their way here they went to Geneva and visited the Rolex headquarters there, they went to Wimbledon and watched the men's and women's finals. Hey, if you win five Opens, you can get the same invitations. For now, read the bump-and-run.
“This course is no different now than it was in 1976,” Watson said Thursday morning, with the game still underway. “These players have to play a course that runs hard. It's not really different, except for the length of the golf course. And they rearranged some of the holes here, so there's a difference there. But overall, it's not really different.”
And no, actually, Watson. Watson had a friend named Sandy Tatum who liked to say of Watson, “You have a swing that won't stop.” The Watson who drew me to golf, often, is the same man Darren saw in the clubhouse on Thursday morning. Straightforward, direct, efficient.
When Darren played at Augusta National one year, on the Monday after the tournament, he was given a locker in the former champions' locker room. Watson shares that locker, to this day, with Claude Harmon, father of six including teacher Butch Harmon. Claude Harmon died in 1989.
“That's amazing,” I said.
“No, it's not,” said Watson.
Do you know what that means?
That's not the case.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at [email protected]. For more from Watson, watch the video above.
