He is 63 years old, ranked No.900 in the world and hasn’t won a non-Seniors event in almost a decade and a half. But try telling golfing great Tom Watson he can’t win next month’s Australian Open in Sydney.
“I think it’s worth a few dollars on me. What are my odds now?” Watson said on Thursday.
“My form is pretty good right now. I’ve been practising quite hard and getting ready. I should be in pretty good form, I think.”
The eight-times major winner said he’d been surveying the Lakes course on the internet and insisted his first-time appearance at the venue would be anything but ceremonial.
“It’s a beautiful golf course,” the American said.
“It’s namesake is The Lakes – the last nine holes there is more water than the first nine. It’s exquisite.
“I was quite surprised by the shortness of the opening holes. It looks as if the weather’s right, you could probably get off to a good start and shoot some low scores.”
Watson, who lost the British Open in a playoff at 59 three years ago, hoped the relative shortness of The Lakes would improve his chances of springing quite the boilover from December 6-9.
“I hit the ball straighter than the young Tom Watson,” he said.
“I don’t chip and putt as well as the young Tom Watson. That’s the old Tom Watson.
“That’s always been the question mark in the last 20 years. When I was running the tables back in the ’70s and the early ’80s, I’d have to say that I was one of the best putters in the world.”
Watson won the 1984 Australian Open at Royal Melbourne and said he jumped at the chance to return down under for almost certainly one last time.
“(It was) the fifth major at that time,” he said.
“I’ve always held it in the highest of esteem. With all that I’ve done in the game of golf, winning the Australian Open is one of the best things I’ve accomplished in my career.”
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