Wednesday, June 02, 1999
Bad weather never stopped Watson
'79 Memorial win prime example
BY RUSTY MILLER
The Associated Press
DUBLIN, Ohio — The rain slashed across the course and 30 mph winds made it feel as if it were 13 degrees. Perfect day for Tom Watson. The Memorial Tournament resumes Thursday, but 20 years ago Watson put together a round in this event that still amazes.
He shot a 3-under-par 69 in the second round in 1979. The total seems nothing special, but consider that the rest of the star field averaged 79, and 42 of the 107 players couldn't break 80.
AT A GLANCE
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• What: 24th annual invitational
• Where: Muirfield Village Golf Club (7,118 yards, par 72) Dublin, Ohio
• When: Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m. start; Saturday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m.
• Defending champ: Fred Couples
• Tickets: sold out (614-889-6700)
• Today: Practice round, $15 at gate; Honoree Ben Hogan ceremony, 3 p.m.; Golf clinic, 4:30 p.m.
• TV: USA 3-6 p.m. Thur.; 4-6 p.m. Fri.; Ch. 12, 7 3-6 p.m. Sat.; 2-6 p.m. Sun.
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“When the weather gets real bad a lot of times, you feel like you've got about half the field beat,” Watson said.
Roger Maltbie, who won the inaugural Memorial three years earlier, shot a 50 on the back nine and finished at 92, the highest totals ever at the tournament. “My hands were so cold I couldn't even feel the club,” Craig Stadler said after shooting an 80. “You really couldn't even play.”
Tournament founder and course designer Jack Nicklaus said he hasn't seen many days like that on tour.
“We've had some days as cold, and maybe some snowy days,” he said. “But that was a tough day.”
Watson didn't have a bogey.
The players had complained about the rain and wind during the first round. Lanny Wadkins shot a 69, with Watson, then 29, four strokes back and trailing seven players.
“I remember after that first round I was talking to one player, who will go unnamed, and he said, "How do you do it, Tom?' I said, "Do what?' He said, "Well, how do you hold it together?' I said, "Well, the one thing I do is that when things get going badly, I don't give up,'” Watson said. “The next day that player got to the first tee, and he withdrew because the weather was so bad.”
A frigid storm front had hit Muirfield Village, turning away fans and turning the tournament into the Hy pothermia Invitational. “I didn't have a very good rainsuit, so that morning I went out and bought a rainsuit and some cold-weather clothes,” Watson said. “I didn't bring any cold-weather clothes, like an idiot.”
Wearing a stocking cap and pulling on thick gloves between shots, Watson had to hit a 2-iron into the first green, which usually requires a short iron. At the second, he hit a 1-iron to the green, a half-dozen clubs more than the norm. He parred both.
He followed with birdies at the fifth and sixth, then closed the round with a birdie for his 69.
Watson grew up in Missouri, where the winds and temperatures can be brutal. He learned how to keep the ball down in a headwind and to carve it into a crosswind.
The 69 vaulted him to a four-stroke lead. He played the last two rounds in 1-under to beat Miller Barber by three strokes and Bob Gilder by six. “Anybody can play well when the weather's right,” Watson said.
Watson played his final regular tour event two weeks ago at the Colonial. His remaining summer schedule will include only the U.S. Open and British Open. He would add the PGA Championship, if given an exemption. He will be dedicated to preparing for the Senior PGA Tour.
SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER: Watson turns 50 Sept. 4, making him eligible to make his senior debut at the Sept. 10-12 event in Indianapolis. Then comes a senior event in Dallas and Sept. 24-26 Kroger Classic at the Golf Center at Kings Island. “I want to sit back, take a deep breath and get into the best mental and physical shape I can get in to come out fast on the Senior Tour,” Watson said.
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