Watson’s Story Not Finished

Once upon a time there was a golfer named Tom Watson who looked like Huck Finn and played golf as if he wrote the book.

Truth is, Watson’s golf sort of resembled the way Huck fished. Watson made a golf ball wiggle across a green and drop into the hole just as easily as a line from a cane pole slipped into the water with barely a ripple.

For a long time, it was a terrific story. Between 1974 and 1987, Watson won two Masters titles, a U.S. Open and 29 other times on the PGA Tour, and that doesn’t count the five occasions he won the British Open, usually with a plaid cap on his head and nothing on his mind except getting golf balls to roll into holes in the fewest number of whacks possible.

Then, oddly, after Watson won the season-ending 1987 Nabisco Championships, Watson did not win a tournament the next year.

He also didn’t win in 1989. Or in 1990. Or in 1991, 1992, 1993 or 1994,tty good high,” Watson said.

Pretty good high? It’s good that Watson can recognize where he is now because he’s weary about remembering where he has been for the last nine years.

Right after he drained a 15-footer for birdie on the last hole for a two-shot victory worth $324,000 at the Memorial, Watson felt as if he had won his first tournament.

He had, sort of. His first victory was in 1974 at the Western Open in Oak Brook, Ill., when he was 24. And 22 years later, he felt the same way.

That’s what nine years of missing putts will do for you. It’s no secret that the trouble with Watson’s game has been putting. He could still drive the ball and get it on the green, it’s just that he couldn’t kick the darned thing in the hole once he got there.

Watson missed so many short putts it would have been comical had it not been so tragic.

He missed them in all the usual way a coyote.

“I can’t count how many times I’ve tried different putting styles and different putters,” Watson said.

Watson said he’s driving the ball farther than ever, even if his putter has betrayed him for nearly a decade, which he quickly underlined as the part putting plays in winning major titles.

In nine years, Watson never gave up hope he would win another tournament.

“I know one thing,” he said. “Boy, it felt good to win again. I missed it.”

Watson’s putting stroke still may be an unfinished product, but his swing has held up well after being rebuilt two years ago. Stan Thirsk, who began teaching Watson in 1961 at Kansas City Country Club, leveled Watson’s shoulders for a better turn and more strength.

That part was fine. The putting was a deeper, more troubling problem. It took nine years for the payoff. Nine years of putters finding their way into his bag each week as if they were on some sort of blind date.

“We players still believe it’s the putter, not the stroke,” he said. “It’s not, of course.”

In any event, Watson tried heavy putters and light putters. He even tinkered with a long-handled putter, borrowing one from Bruce Lietzke. He dropped three balls on the putting green to try it from 30 feet.

“I hit the first one 10 feet short, the second one six feet short and the third one 10 feet past,” Watson said.

Lietzke got the putter back. Watson is using one now that he borrowed from Lee Trevino, but he probably would switch to a rake if it would help get the ball into the hole.

As it is, Watson said his putting style isn’t exactly perfect when asked to describe it.

“My style is still shaky,” he said.

But at least Watson isn’t in denial about the whole bad-putting thing, which is at least a good place to start. Winning a tournament also helps.

“Look, I can’t run and hide from it,” he said. “People have said I should forget it. But I think you have to address it. It’s obvious. I can’t deny it. Yes, I’ve had trouble on the greens.”

Maybe he won’t have any more, not any more than what’s normal, anyway. After heavy rains hit Oakland Hills at midday Wednesday, the greens are going to be slow.

But slow greens may be just what Watson ordered. Maybe he can pull himself together, make some putts and win another U.S. Open, like the one he bagged in 1982 at Pebble Beach.

Maybe when he’s about to putt, Watson can just reach in his bag and pull out another chapter in one of golf’s more interesting stories. That would be a nice touch.

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OPEN WEATHER

Thunderstorm hits Oakland Hills, but first-round play not expected to be delayed. C5