It almost seems cruel to dwell on what undoubtedly cost Tom Watson the British Open instead of all the positives about his amazing golf accomplishment. But as always, the numbers tell an interesting story - loudly and clearly!
First, I really am (and long have been) a fan of Tom Watson. We are contemporaries and I watched and cheered for most of his victories. As a 14 handicap golfer, I bought and devoured his book "Getting Up and Down with Tom Watson" and it changed my game, my attitude and my handicap, dramatically. On 9/10/2002, I played in a golf event that featured Tom, and I had the thrill of a lengthy chat with him during an extended rain delay. In my opinion, he long ago set a new standard for performance and behavior on and off the golf course. Further, the way he handled everything about this Open week should be carefully documented and studied by everyone in and out of golf, but especially those that aspire to compete in the public's eye.
As the Open is the purview of the R & A, there is no ShotLink data, and even the traditional Fairways, Greens and puttting statistics are unavailable. No worries - due to his outstanding play, the telecasts treated us to every shot Tom hit in the final round, so I recorded it and captured his Shot By Shot data for analysis.
Tom's long game was easily that of a champion. In the final round, he made no real mistakes (until the playoff) and hit 12 Greens-in-Regulation (I counted 2 routine putts from the fringe as GIR's). Handicap: +5
Chip/Pitch shots - Certainly not the Tom Watson of old, his six opportunities averaged just over 10 feet from the hole with only half hit to within 5 feet of the cup. Handicap: 0
Sand shots - Only 1 shot hit to 9 feet. Handicap: +1
Putting - Tom had no 3-putts in the final round and made a relatively long one from 28 feet on the par 3 11th hole. He also did not miss any short putts but his undoing was in the "makeable" ranges from 4 to 20 feet where he made only 1 of his 10 opportunities. Wisha-coulda-shoulda, but if he had just made one more of these putts he would have completed the miracle. Here's a sad niblick of truth: If Tom's performance had only been equal to the average putting performance of the PGA Tour, he would have made 4 out of those 10 putts, and finished the British Open with a two-stroke margin of victory. Handicap: 3
First, I really am (and long have been) a fan of Tom Watson. We are contemporaries and I watched and cheered for most of his victories. As a 14 handicap golfer, I bought and devoured his book "Getting Up and Down with Tom Watson" and it changed my game, my attitude and my handicap, dramatically. On 9/10/2002, I played in a golf event that featured Tom, and I had the thrill of a lengthy chat with him during an extended rain delay. In my opinion, he long ago set a new standard for performance and behavior on and off the golf course. Further, the way he handled everything about this Open week should be carefully documented and studied by everyone in and out of golf, but especially those that aspire to compete in the public's eye.
As the Open is the purview of the R & A, there is no ShotLink data, and even the traditional Fairways, Greens and puttting statistics are unavailable. No worries - due to his outstanding play, the telecasts treated us to every shot Tom hit in the final round, so I recorded it and captured his Shot By Shot data for analysis.
Tom's long game was easily that of a champion. In the final round, he made no real mistakes (until the playoff) and hit 12 Greens-in-Regulation (I counted 2 routine putts from the fringe as GIR's). Handicap: +5
Chip/Pitch shots - Certainly not the Tom Watson of old, his six opportunities averaged just over 10 feet from the hole with only half hit to within 5 feet of the cup. Handicap: 0
Sand shots - Only 1 shot hit to 9 feet. Handicap: +1
Putting - Tom had no 3-putts in the final round and made a relatively long one from 28 feet on the par 3 11th hole. He also did not miss any short putts but his undoing was in the "makeable" ranges from 4 to 20 feet where he made only 1 of his 10 opportunities. Wisha-coulda-shoulda, but if he had just made one more of these putts he would have completed the miracle. Here's a sad niblick of truth: If Tom's performance had only been equal to the average putting performance of the PGA Tour, he would have made 4 out of those 10 putts, and finished the British Open with a two-stroke margin of victory. Handicap: 3
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