If Tiger's not going to win (being seven back, it's a long shot, especially when his putter seems to have left its' magic in Florida), I'd love to see a man like Watson hoist the Claret Jug. Wouldn't that just be fantastic? A man who hasn't been truly relevant on Tour in five years to suddenly be in contention on Sunday at the British Open? Wait, haven't we seen this before? (See: Greg Norman, 2008)
His bogey-free first round already has everyone reminiscing about the 1977 "Duel in the Sun" at Turnberry where Watson and Jack Nicklaus wowed an entire golf community with undoubtedly one of the greatest golf tournaments ever.
This is already shaping up to be a tournament with an unbelievable number of subplots: John Daly's comeback (who isn't rooting for the guy?), Tiger's struggles, (hopefully) a weekend wind-storm that raises scoring by at least a few strokes, other senior citizens Mark O'Meara and Mark Calcavecchia only a few shots off the lead, etc. So why not Watson? I'm hoping he can channel the 1970's and provide some drama for golf fans again.
Lastly, and most importantly, I'd like to see Watson win because that would mean he would deny now-leader Miguel-Angel Jimenez a chance to win a major tournament. I really have nothing against the guy as a golfer, but, seriously, he's on the list of "Ugliest People Ever" and to top off his dreadful physique he absolutely tops the "Worst Dressed Golfer" list. Even Daly's ridiculous pants and Ian Poulter's "God Save the Queen" catastrophe don't compare to his ponytail and off-color clothing. (Disclaimer: I couldn't find a good picture of his ugly clothing on Google, and I can only guess the search engine imploded when looking at those pictures, so they just don't show them anymore)
Personally, I'm hoping for some stereotypical British Open weather so significantly less than 50 players finish the tournament under par. That might help Watson more than anything.
Or maybe Tiger will just blow past everyone and win by ten. That's probably more likely.
No comments:
Post a Comment