Nostalgic Day for Watson

Tom Watson won his rematch with Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry links, but he couldn’t shake Tom Kite.

Watson extended his string of low scoring in majors with a four-under-par 66 Thursday, sharing the lead with Kite after the first round of the Senior British Open.

Twenty-six years after beating Nicklaus by one stroke at Turnberry in one of most dramatic finishes in British Open history, Watson, 53, squared off against the Golden Bear in the opening round.

Nicklaus, 10 years older than Watson and hampered by persistent back trouble, shot an even-par 70 while Watson overcame wayward tee shots to finish with five birdies.

Kite, meanwhile, made up for a double bogey at No. 1 with two birdies on the front nine and birdies at Nos. 17 and 18 for a 66 and a share of the lead.

Fuzzy Zoeller, defending champion Noboru Sugai of Japan and Mark McCumber were in a group tied for third, one stroke back.

Sugai had a two-stroke lead at six under through 11 holes, but he finished with a 67 after bogeys on three of the last five holes.

Watson arrived at the $1.6-million championship -- the newest major on the Champions Tour -- in outstanding form despite not winning a tournament this season.

In the last month, Watson shot a 65 at the U.S. Open, 66 at the U.S. Senior Open, 64 at the Senior Players Championship and 69 at last week’s British Open.

Watson conceded that this 66 was a result of great recovery shots following poor play off the tee.

“I kept yanking it left, yanking it left. It was a very worrying start,” said Watson, whose 1977 victory was the second of five British Open titles.

“How do you shoot a 66 when you hit the ball like that? I made three fairways. How’s that for a round off the tee?”