Wine, Cheese, 15-Year Olds, and Tom Watson: All Better With Age

by dswinder, Sons of Sam Malone

Tom Watson is known for his eight major championships, his 39 PGA Tour wins, and his rivalry with the Golden Bear...Tom is 57 now, and by golfing standards he should be on the downswing of his career. So why the Hell is he still winning so much?

On Sunday, Watson won his third Senior British Open in five years...Three in Five! The older TW (younger TW = sir Tiger) is dominating as much, if not more so than he did 20-30 years ago in his "prime". Eight PGA majors and 39 wins is quite an accomplishment, but that was spread over 27 years. In just eight years on the Champions Tour, Watson has racked up five majors and 10 official Champions Tour wins. Yeah, I know, the competition isn't as good on the old guys circuit, but Tom won a PGA Tour event in 1998, only one year from joining the geezers. In 1997, Watson finished fourth in the Masters and in a tie for tenth in the Open Championship...then in 2000, a year AFTER joining the Champions Tour, Tom tied for ninth in the PGA. Two years later, Watson finished in a tie for 28th and a tie for 18th at the two Opens respectively.

So why is it that Tom has held up so well? To be honest, I really couldn't tell you. Jack didn't hold up this well with age. While Nicklaus won eight Senior majors over his career, the Golden Bear had only one top ten major performance in the 90's, and only made the cut once at the big four in the 2000's.

The only solution I can come up with is; I guess, like the 15-year old that my 19-year old buddy has his eye on, Tom Watson just gets better with age.