Tom Watson feels 'serene .... it would be something

special if I do what I intend to do on Sunday'

FROM THE TELEGRAPH.CO.UK WEBSITE
By MARK REASON
For much of the third round at Turnberry today, Tom Watson showed the whippersnappers how to hit a golf ball off the pinched seaside turf. He shaped his shots with the precision of Rodin knocking a few chips out of a block of marble. Watson has been telling us all week that he can win this darned thing and we are finally starting to believe him.
We thought TW might win the Open this year, but we did not think TW would turn out to be Tom Watson. He said: “This old geezer might have a chance to win the tournament. It’s like Greg Norman last year. I know that my friend Jack [Nicklaus] is watching. It would be something special if I do what I intend to do.”
Watson revealed that as he walked up the 18th fairway he told his caddie: “Bruce is with us today.” Bruce is Watson’s former caddie Bruce Edwards, who died of Lou Gehrig’s disease a few years ago. It was a wonder that Watson could still two-putt through the tears.
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 [any more]. Let’s just go with what I got.”
Watson will play with Australian Mathew Goggin in Sunday’s final round. He could scarcely wish for a better partner. Goggin, who played with Watson in the third round of the 2003 Open at St George’s, said: “That was probably the highlight of the Open for me. He’s such a great player and such a great champion, especially at the Open. It was shocking just how good he was. I’m thinking he’s getting on in years and not playing so much and he’s just smashing it around.”
Watson can triumph, but this is now the open Open. There are still more than 20 players who could win and the English must be in with their best chance of a major since Nick Faldo last shined his golf shoes as a realistic contender.
There are four Englishmen inside the top 20 and even the likes of Luke Donald, David Howell and Oliver Wilson are not entirely out of it at three over par.
Fisher and Lee Westwood have as good a shot as anyone on the leaderboard. From tee to green they were the best players on the course in the third round. Both men have contended at US Opens over the previous two years. They know what it feels like at the warm end of a major.
Westwood and Fisher hit so many good iron shots throughout the third round, but how often have we twisted our bodies in anguish as another putt slips by the edge of the hole. When the Brits are in contention at a major we need a chiropractor by the end of the week. Our necks and spines are like spaghetti junction.
It is agony. Why have there not been any great British putters down the years? Willie Park Jnr said the man who can putt is a match for anyone. The trouble is that he won the Open back in 1889. It feels that we have been waiting that long for another decent putter to come along.
Why are all the great putters in history from overseas? Is it something to do with orange juice and sunshine?
Lloyd Mangrum used to say of the South African Bobby Locke: “That son of a bitch was able to hole a putt over 60 feet of peanut brittle.” The Brits do not seem to be able to hole a putt down the spout of a funnel.
Fisher’s only bogey on the front nine came when he missed a tiddler on the fifth green. There was an inevitability about it. Fisher looked like a man who wanted to get it over with. The 28 year-old had a great chance to win the US Open but he putted like a man whose fingers were set in concrete.
Fisher, the bookies’ favourite, does not talk about winning a major, he talks about winning majors. That is good to hear, but he will have to hole the putts on Sunday. Fisher has the long game, but does he have the touch and the unblinking belief to hole the clutch putts?
The same is true of Westwood. Asked how he holed so many putts, the great American potter Billy Casper said: “How does a seagull fly, how does a centipede get all those legs working at once?”
Westwood would love to know the answer to those questions, but he also knows it is about hanging around and not making the big mistakes.
Fisher is just hoping that his wife, Jo, who was due on Tuesday, does not go into labour during today’s final round. Asked if he would walk off the course if the call came through, Fisher decided to duck the question.
It may well come down to a choice between paternity and eternity – Fisher will be a father for the rest of his life, but he may have only one chance to become a part of history.
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