Why Watson '09 Trumps Norman '08

Every year at the Open, the golf world tells plenty of tales about an Old Tom, but it's always Morris, not Watson. Now at 59 years, 316 days, and 4 hours old (dear Granny Watson was kind enough to give me her son's actual time of birth) the 5-time Open winner finds himself tied for the lead through 36 holes.

His wilting seems inevitable and through seven holes of Friday's round, I thought I was witnessing it. Shots from the weeds went nowhere, makeable putts never had a chance, and one began to fear that Tom might join Ben Curtis as a fellow Thursday leader who would ultimately miss the Friday cut.

Instead, of course, Watson played his closing 10 holes in 4-under par, closed with a 32 and ended the day right back where he started at 5-under. This from a guy who had a hip replaced last October.

For as much as the golf world was pulling for a Greg Norman triumph at Birkdale last year, for me a Watson victory in 2009 would easily be the better tale. After all, Watson is at his core a golfer. He keeps a busy playing schedule, rarely misses majors, and appears to love the added challenges that come with playing well at an age when most golfers are edging closer to the forward tees.

Norman, on the other hand, considers himself a king, splitting time between his winery, his design projects and canoodling with his superstar wife. Golf is an afterthought, though I suspect this is as much a defense against facing his demons as it is true disinterest.

While Watson wants to win as badly as Norman wanted it last year, the difference is that Tom Watson truly believes he can. Last year all we heard from Norman inbetween rounds was how low his expectations were. After Watson's second-round 70, TNT cut to him gazing lovingly at the Claret Jug, inspecting his name in its 5 different places. When he was asked if he thought his name could land on there a 6th time, he smiled warmly and said, "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it could."

If the self-described "old fart" believes he can do it, it makes it that much easier for us to hope for the same.