I know that I've left y'all hanging because I haven't finished this post as soon as I wanted, and I also know that it's been a couple weeks since the British Open was here in St Andrews. Still, the best part of the Open was after Tiger played on the 18th on the 2nd day of competition, which I talked about in my last post. I was going to leave, but the last group was walking down the fairway to make their putt. Amongst them was Tom Watson.
Tom Watson is an American golfer who used to be the #1 golfer from 1978 until 1982. He won the British Open 5 times, the Masters twice, the US Open once, and tied 2nd at the PGA Championship in 1978. If he had won that PGA Championship, he would have been one of the elite golfers to earn the "grand slam" of golf. Currently, only Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, and Tiger Woods have earned this honor. Tom Watson is ranked 6th in all time total major championship victories. He is known as an absolute fiend on the links golf courses, which explains his 5 British Open victories, but he has never won the Open at St Andrews. He is also well known for continuing to play golf in spite of his age, and last year he almost won the British Open but came in a close 2nd instead.
He is by far the crowd's favorite. A few people cheered for Tiger, but everyone got excited when they saw Tom walking down the fairway. The pictures I've posted here are a testament to the crowd's enthusiasm for him. No one else got as many cheers or claps as Watson. He was also the only player to turn to the crowd and say something to us. It was quite a moment. Of course, I always love large crowds that get excited as if they were about to riot. Not that the golf fans are crazy enough to storm the green like college football fans after trouncing their rivals, but the golf fans got about as excited as they could without getting evicted by the quite-police. I must say that watching Watson play on the 18th with so many fans cheering for him. He is by far my favorite golfer.
Dude raising his glass of beer while cheering for Watson.
I was pretty sure it's illegal to drink outside in Scotland.
Watson making a chip and almost getting a birdie
on this hole. He sank the putt on the next shot.
Fans clapping for Watson just before he sinks his putt.
Check out his outfit. Classy. I want that outfit
when I'm 70 and golfing.
The classy handshake after finishing the round.
Watson didn't make the cut to continue play.
So I got to see two of golf's greatest players of all time back to back. Pretty cool, huh?
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