AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rest easy, Julius Boros, your mark almost assuredly will live on for at least another major golf championship.
But Tom Watson’s still coming for you, Julius, and your title as the oldest man ever to win a major. It may not be this week — it may not be ever — but it won’t be for a lack of pushing, scrapping and fighting on Watson’s part.
You can question that Watson’s skills may be too aged, his putter too balky or his length too short. You can question whether his surgically replaced hip can handle the strain. But you can’t question his drive or his guts.
How’s this for the man’s grit: Watson, who at 60 is considered one of the elder statesmen on the Champions Tour, walked off the 18th Friday at the Masters steaming about his round.
Sure, he left his third shot in the greenside bunker at No. 18 on his way to a bogey. Yes, his second-round 74 dropped him to 3 under par and off the leaderboard for the first time in the tournament.
Still, Watson became just the third 60-year-old to make the Masters cut and the first to be in contention. Sorry, but when Gary Player and Tommy Aaron made the weekend in 1998 and 2000, respectively, they teed off before the stands were full on No. 1. Watson, who is tied for ninth, likely will get to eat breakfast and lunch before reporting to work today.
Yet, after his glorious 67 Thursday and working his way to a respectable score Friday when the course flashed its teeth and allowed just two rounds in the 60s, Watson wanted more. He expected more. And he was running hot about dropping a shot on the final hole and misreading a birdie putt on the 17th.
“Yes, I’m disappointed,” Watson said through clinched teeth after turning in his scorecard. “I’ve got to do some 100 percent playing the last two rounds to have a chance, and that’s what I’m here to do.”
The Masters embraces its tradition and opens its gates to all its former champions. They are all welcomed and kindly embraced by the patrons — “I related to a lot of people I saw in the crowd; they’re all my age,” Watson said. It’s just part of the magic of this place.
Some make runs; most simply enjoy the walk. Craig Stadler, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer and Sandy Lyle — former champs all — shot a combined 37 over par Friday.
Really, the guys who wear their green jackets to the champions dinner on Tuesday can be divided into two groups — those who want to add to their resumes and those who want to remember fondly the magic of yesterday. Watson fights every round to be in the former group even if his age places him in the latter.
Keep the warm-and-fuzzies for the next guy. Watson wants what he’s always wanted when he puts a peg in the ground here or anywhere else — to have a chance to win. And if you think any different, well, Tommy Ballgame’s got a message for you.
“Well, I don’t have any thoughts of that at all,” Watson said when asked what he might say to those who think this is the beginning of the end of his stay in contention this week. “I have thoughts of playing my tail off and not making the same mistakes as I did today. It’s the same attitude today I had 37 years ago when I first played here.”
Watson made a serious charge at Turnberry a year ago, and he was one shot off the lead here at Augusta National after Thursday’s first-round 67 — the first time he’s broken 70 since 1997.
Former champ Fred Couples also stumbled after being the talk of Thursday. The 50-year-old Couples posted a first-round 66 before closing with three consecutive bogeys in Friday’s 75.
“Not a whole lot of fun at the moment. But that’s just the way it is,” Couples said. “Yesterday was a great day; today was not so good — 75’s a very mediocre score.”
If you don’t believe that, just ask Watson.