Emotional Watson bids for history at Turnberry
Posted: 18 July 2009
Tom Watson’s incredible attempt to become the oldest ever winner of a major championship remained on track after the third round of The Open at Turnberry.
At the same venue where he famously won in 1977 after his epic “Duel in the Sun” with Jack Nicklaus, the 59-year-old turned back the clock to shoot a par 70 to lead the Championship outright going into the final day.
Watson revealed that as he walked up the 18th fairway of the Ailsa course he told his caddie: “Bruce is with us today,” and they both promptly burst into tears. Bruce is Watson’s former caddie Bruce Edwards, who died of Lou Gehrig’s disease a few years ago.
Asked if he would be nervous going into the final round, Watson said: “I didn’t feel real nervous out there today. I guess serene is the right word for it. It ended on a real good note again. I feel like my nerves are too well fried to feel. Let’s just go with what I got.”
Just one shot behind the leader, Ross Fisher’s dream of winning The Open and then flying home to witness the birth of his first child is still on after a par 70 left him tied in second place with Australian Matthew Goggin.
Fisher was due to become a father on Tuesday and has a private plane on standby ready to whisk him down to his home in Surrey should his wife Jo go into labour.
And the 28-year-old insists he will still walk off the Ailsa course even if he is seven shots ahead on the final day.
“If Jo goes into Labour, I’ll be supporting her 100 per cent; I won’t be here, I’ll be with her because it’s something that I definitely don’t want to miss.”
“Who knows? To win and then to get back home to see the birth of our first child would be a dream come true. But there’s a long way to go. Let’s just hope that we can both hold on.”
Goggin, a late entrant at Turnberry as a reserve, was in the clubhouse with a 3-under 207 after one of only five below-par rounds.
The 35-year-old, a journeyman on The PGA Tour, was the winner of the 1998 Australasian Tour Championship and gained his place in The Open as a late reserve.
“It’s just all coming together. I’ve worked a lot on my short game and putting, and that’s the point end of the stick really,” said the Tasmanian.
“And when that goes well, I’ve always hit the ball well enough to be around about. So when the other part of the game starts to match up, then you end up on this end of the leaderboard.”
