British Open: Watson feat bodes well for Tiger

July 19, 2:25 PMGolf ExaminerDave Seanor

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Oh, what might have been. (AP/Peter Morrison)

Here’s something to ponder: If Tom Watson can play well enough to be in a playoff for a major championship at age 59, the prospect of what Tiger Woods might accomplish in his lifetime is downright scary.

Woods has won 14 majors in 13 years. If he can keep up that pace, he'll have notched 42 majors by the time he reaches Watson's age.

Far fetched, of course. Every great player has had to fight through dry spells. Jack Nicklaus, owner of 18 major titles, suffered through an 0-for-12 slump at the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship after winning major No. 7, the 1967 U.S. Open. He had a 20-major drought between the1980 PGA Championship and the 1986 Masters, when at 46 he notched his last victory at a major.

Watson, who lost an aggregate four-hole playoff to Stewart Cink at Turnberry, won the last of his eight majors when he was Woods’ age, 33. (Although you can’t discount Tom’s five senior majors, including three Senior British Opens.) He has had hip replacement surgery, endured an unpleasant divorce and overcome problems with alcohol abuse. Watson has always been one of the game’s best ball strikers, but his putting touch began to abandon him when he turned 40 (witness the 72nd hole at Turnberry).

Considering all the advances in training techniques, the marvels of modern orthopedic surgery and the better understanding of nutrition, an extraordinary physical specimen like Woods figures to have a long and productive career. 

True, Woods already has had knee surgery three times. He swings in such an aggressive manner that many speculate the stress it creates may shorten his career. Others question whether his ram-it-home putting style can hold up under pressure as Woods ages.

There's also the matter of motivation, or how long Woods wants to stay on the world stage. In his Sunday post-playoff press conference, Watson alluded to the different pressures players must contend with in the digital age compared to when he was in his prime.

"My hat goes off to Tiger for what he has to go through on a weekly basis," Watson said, "with all the things pulling at him, with as much as he wins and as much as he's in the limelight."

The manner in which Woods missed the cut at Turnberry is cause for raised eyebrows, as well. Clearly, Woods has issues with his game. For whatever reason, he has failed to demonstrate any kind of consistency in the majors this season. He seems to be putting too much pressure on himself, playing like a man who believes he’s running out of time. If that’s the case, Watson’s performance – as was Greg Norman’s third place finish last year at Birkdale – should dispel that notion.

Perhaps it's time for Woods to reevaluate how he prepares for majors. Before he had children, Woods always spent the week in Ireland playing links golf as a tune-up for the Open Championship. He had never set foot on Turnberry before Monday of Open week.

Or maybe Tiger would be better served playing in tournaments the week before majors, thus maintaining some sort of competitive routine and staying more in synch. Woods often points out how difficult it is to win majors, but that’s not much of an excuse for someone who sets the bar so high.

• Early in Sunday’s telecast, ABC ran a graphic of notable athletes who, like Watson, were born in 1949. The list included boxer Larry Holmes, quarterbacks Archie Manning and Joe Theisman, third baseman Mike Schmidt and Olympic decathlete Bruce Jenner. Interesting, but let’s put the comparison in perspective.  Holmes, Theisman and Manning spent their careers getting the crap kicked out of them. Baseball may not be the most physical of sports, but Schmidt played 2,404 games in 18 seasons. Jenner excelled in arguably the most grueling of athletic challenges. Not to detract from Watson’s achievement, but golf is an awful lot kinder to the body, if not the mind.
• At the other end of the age spectrum, 16-year-old amateur Mateo Manassero closed with an impressive 1-under 69. Americans may not have heard of the kid from Verona, Italy, but he's hardly an unknown in Europe.
  
  Manassero came into the Open Championship ranked No. 8 in the R&A’s World Amateur Golf Ranking and No. 7 in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking (a system devised by San Francisco-based Fred Soloman, which uses a differing methodology than the R&A).
  
  Manassero, the 2009 British Amateur champ, has played mostly in Europe. He was on Italy’s winning European Amateur Team Championship squad this spring. He’s been a two-time winner this year in his home country, at the Palla D’Oro event and the Italian Stroke Amateur. Manassero was runner-up at the ’09 French Amateur and tied for 11^th at the St. Andrews Links Trophy. He was a three-time winner in 2008 (Citta’ di Milano, Italian Boys Under 18, Glauco Lolli Ghetti Trophy) and won once in ’07 (Italian Youth).
  
  Manassero did make a brief appearance in the United States last year, finishing third in the Junior Orange Bowl Championship and T16 in the Dixie Amateur.