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So far Watson has been plenty smart, easily navigating his way around a links he knows almost as well as the greenskeeper. Given a chance to crack in the final group Saturday, he instead turned in a tidy 71 that included two birdies on the last three holes.
The only hint of trouble came on the 18th hole, and it had nothing to do with his game. Watson, whose longtime caddie, Bruce Edwards, died in 2004 from Lou Gehrig’s disease, hit his second shot toward the green and handed the club to caddie Neil Oxman.
“Bruce is with us today,” Watson said.
“Don’t make me cry,” Oxman replied, and the two of them began doing just that.
There will surely be plenty of tears Sunday if Watson manages to pull this one off. There will also be plenty of cheers from a Scottish crowd that has urged Watson on every step of the way.
They love him not only because he has won this Open five times, but because he truly appreciates links golf and everything that goes with it. Watson’s career was made on their soil, and they feel a kinship with him.
Before Saturday, Watson figured that relationship would have to be celebrated long distance. The Royal & Ancient has a rule that players can’t compete past age 60, and Watson was reconciled to the fact next year’s Open would be his last.
But the guardians of golf in Britain apparently had an epiphany. They declared late Saturday that if Watson wins he will have a 10-year champion’s exemption and can play until he’s 69.
Nice, but it’s not as if Watson needed the incentive.
Not when he’s ready to win one for old geezers everywhere.
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