for Watson and what it might portend, “Tom Watson has conquered the mind.” Watson wasn’t thinking about all that as he celebrated on the 18th green. He couldn’t have been thinking much at all when he tossed what was now among the more valuable golf balls in the world into Carmel Bay (Note: One of the balls from the historic round was kept by Ed- wards and is now back in Watson’s pos- session while the famed sand wedge now resides in a display case at The Greenbrier.) Nicklaus greeted Watson on the 18th green, the slayer and the slayed. While the respect they felt for one another was never diminished and the friendship they share today is genuine, there was an awkward moment in which Nicklaus consciously or unconsciously assumed the role of victor and put his arm around Watson’s shoulders. Watson, in an ob- ject lesson in body language, quickly re-ordered their arms, assuming the superior, sympathetic position and of- fering a champion’s condolences to the vanquished. They shook hands and Nicklaus told him, “I’m proud of you.” Moments lat- er, at the trophy presentation, Nicklaus warmly teased his opponent, “You did it to me again, you little son of bitch,” then added, “If it takes me the rest of my life I’m gonna get you one of these times.” It would never happen. One of the game’s greatest rivalries was spent. Few would have believed it as the sun set that day, but that duo would never fin- ish one-two in a major again. This was the beginning of the end for Nicklaus’ career and the shining moment of Wat- son’s. He once summed it up this way, “That shot, that day, that moment was the highlight of my life as a golfer.” More importantly, Watson had his US Open title – the only major champion- ship he and Bruce Edwards would ever win together – and he was now the un- disputed greatest player in the world. It was an Open-and-shut case. A few months after his 1982 US Open win, Watson returned to Pebble Beach for a celebratory dinner with friends. As the conversation bounced around, Wat- son quietly exited the restaurant and re- turned with a handful of clubs and balls. He proposed to the group a midnight excursion: a return to the 17th hole. By the light of the moon, they found the hallowed spot. As Watson tried his hand at recreating history, he skulled the ball over the green.
LAST DANCE The 1982 US Open was the final major where Watson and Nicklaus finished 1-2.
watching our coverage on a monitor, now knows he can’t do a thing. A man like Jack Nicklaus doesn’t like to stand there helpless.” Watson’s work wasn’t finished. He only had a one-shot lead, and there was an ocean’s worth of water hazard lining the en- tire left side of Herbert Fowler’s par-five 18th hole. He could be forgiven for thinking about Sam Snead’s four second- place finishes in US Opens. Specifically Watson, the student of Open history, could have been reminded of the 1939 Open at Philadelphia Country Club. Snead needed only to par the par-5 72nd hole in order to win, but he inexplicably tripled the hole. Snead never won an Open. Then there was the adrenalin. It nearly cost Tiger Woods the Masters in 2005. Who doesn’t recall that crazy, heart-stop- ping Nike-sponsored chip-in on 16? What few recall is that with his pounding heart lodged somewhere in his esophagus, Woods proceeded to the 17th, where he promptly missed the fairway and bogeyed the last two holes. Watson’s method for composure retention was surprisingly vanilla: Simply play the shot at hand. “I had played the hole a number of times in the Crosby. Sure, there was a little more pressure in this one,” confessed Watson, “Still, it was the same shot.” Watson opted for 3-wood, and “I hit it as solidly and as flush as I could.” About 270 yards worth of solid and flush. A simple par at the last would win, yet Watson would close the deal in style: 3-wood, 7-iron, 9-iron, all capped off by a long birdie putt that dropped in after authoritatively ram- ming the back of the hole. In fact, moments after capturing the elusive National Open, when Watson called home to wish Ray Watson a most Happy Father’s Day, the old man said, “Boy, you don’t know how to lag, do you?” The son responded, “It wouldn’t have been more than 6 inches by the hole …” To which the delighted father responded, “Bullshit!” Watson had won his US Open. Furthermore, for the fourth time in six years, he’d beaten Jack Nicklaus in a major cham- pionship. Watson had turned back both the game’s greatest player and the inertia of his own expectations. He had become the player he’d dreamed of being. In response to Watson’s win, Fuzzy Zoeller captured the sense of personal breakthrough
This article was adapted from Chris Millard’s recent book THE SHOT: Watson, Nicklaus, Pebble Beach, and the Chip That Changed Everything, available on Amazon and at Back9Press. com/the-shot.
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