Sport

Watson magic returns

The OLD magic returned, and the putting demons that have haunted him for much of the past decade stayed away, as Tom Watson, …

Tue May 26 1998 - 01:00

The OLD magic returned, and the putting demons that have haunted him for much of the past decade stayed away, as Tom Watson, Ballybunion's favoured adopted son, won the Colonial tournament in Fort Worth on Sunday and leaped to number five in the all-time career moneylist.

At 48 years of age, Watson, too, showed that golf is not entirely a young man's game. He also demonstrated an artistry with the club - and braveness - that has been his hallmark in a professional career that has spanned 26 years and, now, has yielded 39 tour wins.

On Sunday, in the final round, he played a fairway bunker shot at the ninth hole that was vintage Watson. "It all came down to that one shot," he said. With his ball up against the side of the sand trap and forced to assume an awkward stance out of the bunker and above the ball, Watson splashed his shot 130 yards over the pond guarding the green to within ten feet of the pin, and sank the birdie putt.

"Along with the two iron at Royal Birkdale (1983 British Open) and the one at the 1982 US Open, it will be one of my memorable shots," confirmed Watson, who closed with a final round 66 for 15-under-par 265, two shots ahead of Jim Furyk.

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"Winning at my age is a rarity," said Watson, who collected $414,000 (the biggest cheque of his career) and brought his 1998 season's earnings to $832,385. Given that he is also tied leader for the deferred Pebble Beach Pro-Am which will conclude in August, Watson is possibly in the middle of his most lucrative season financially.

Watson became the oldest winner of the Colonial - Ben Hogan's fifth win in 1959 at the age of 46 was the previous record - and it finished a two-year drought since his win in the Memorial in 1996. Prior to that, the victory drought had extended to nine years as he went into a putting slump. "When you're not playing well, you don't enjoy it nearly as much. In fact, at one time in my career, it got to where I hated the game. I just hated it. Yet, you realise that this game does that to you. People who play the game understand that very clearly," he said.