TURNBERRY, Scotland — These kind of things usually don't end well, no matter how much we might want them to. Golf is a tough enough game for even the youngsters playing in this British Open, and 59-year-olds have no business getting in the way — no matter what their pedigree might be.
But then Tom Watson starts talking about feeling something spiritual out on the links, and you start wondering. He calls the golf course “she,” like Turnberry is an eccentric old aunt, and says he feels a serenity when he is with her.
On Thursday, he went out underneath a retro argyle sweater with a 16-year-old as one of his playing partners and shot a 5-under 65 that was as remarkable as it was improbable.
It matched the score he posted in the final round on the same course in 1977 to beat Jack Nicklaus by a shot and win the claret jug trophy in what would live in golf lore as the “Duel in the Sun.”
Watson's name was atop the leader board Thursday for six hours, giving Turnberry the buzz that Tiger Woods couldn't deliver, until Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez came through with a 66-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 64 and his first lead in a major.
Brilliant finish by Koboya
Watson was joined at 65 by Ben Curtis, who won the British Open in 2003, and Kenichi Kuboya of Japan, who finished birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie.
On a rare day along the Ayrshire coast with barely a breeze, 50 players broke par. But Woods was not among them.
He had as many birdies as clubs thrown in disgust — three — and finished with a 71. At seven shots behind, it's his largest first-round deficit ever in the British Open.
While Woods struggled, the ease with which Watson shot his 65 made a lot of his fans — and there are many in Britain for the five-time champion — want to believe.
“I feel inspired playing here,” Watson said. “It doesn't feel a whole lot out of the ordinary from 32 years ago except that I don't have the confidence in my putting as I had 32 years ago. But, again, a few of them might go in.”
Watson wasn't the only veteran showing up the youngsters on Thursday.
Two other former champions — 52-year-old Mark O'Meara and 49-year-old Mark Calcavecchia — shot 67.
And at 45, Jimenez isn't exactly a kid even if he does have a ponytail.
“Since I woke up this morning, you can see through the window and you look at the sea, it looked like a pond. So nice, so calm,” Jimenez said. “You can't ask a better day to play golf. It took care of me.”
Not all the old-timers flourished Thursday.
Greg Norman, who had the 54-hole lead at Royal Birkdale last year in a remarkable revival, faded quickly at Turnberry, where he won the British in 1986. The 54-year-old didn't make a birdie until No. 17 and shot 77.
“I wasn't hitting the ball that solid,” Norman said. “It was disappointing that I wasn't walking onto the first tee feeling confident about where I was hitting the ball.”
Norman ceded the stage to Watson, whose history at Turnberry goes beyond the duel in '77.
In contention in '94
Watson, who won the 2003 Senior British Open here with a final-round 64, was in contention the last time the British Open visited Turnberry in 1994. He shot 68 and 65 in the first two rounds to take the lead midway through but faded to a tie for 11th place.
Watson and Nicklaus had some dinner and a few bottles of wine after the final round, then sneaked on to play the adjoining par-3 course in the dark. A security guard came to shoo them away, only to find the greatest player ever and a five-time British Open champion engaged in a bit of fun.
Watson's five wins, second only to Harry Vardon, would testify to a brilliant career even if he had never done anything else.
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