THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

June 2, 1996

Tom Watson

TOM WATSON: Boy, that is pretty. (LAUGHTER)

TOM WATSON: Nothing.

TOM WATSON: That is right. I do have one of each. 17 years apart. Somebody said 141 tournaments without a victory; is that right?

TOM WATSON: Is that right? Okay, who came up with that statistic? (LAUGHTER)

TOM WATSON: I didn't think you guys were that smart. You just write words.

TOM WATSON: Remember, we talked about the hypotenuse yesterday.

TOM WATSON: God, it feels good. It feels so good to win again. Nine years has been -- half of that time, I really wasn't playing very well, but the other half I was playing pretty well - and -- the last half. And it just -- it feels good to be here sitting here talking with you, the last person off the golf course, last putt in, winning a golf tournament today. I missed it.

TOM WATSON: Just exactly like walking up the 18th hole at the U.S. Open in '82 or the British Open in '77. I needed to go up there and at least 2-putt to win. That is all I was thinking about. I wasn't thinking about anything else.

TOM WATSON: It was, but there is more important things to me. The blinders still have to be on -- if I had a 5 shot lead, then I probably could have enjoyed that walk a lot more than having a one-shot lead with a real slick downhill putt, not knowing how far that putt was going to be, but knowing that it is really, really fast -- had a similar putt there to tie David Graham when he won here. I think it was'80. He made his putt first and then I had to make the same putt.

TOM WATSON: No, I just looked over to him and I said, "was that good enough?" He gave me a big smile. He said, "yeah, that is good enough."

TOM WATSON: I said, "try to leave it short." That is all I was trying to do, and I still couldn't leave it short. (LAUGHTER) It still would have gone two feet by and I still would have been shaking that thing. Just trying to leave it short; that is all I was trying to do. (LAUGHTER) Still didn't leave it short.

TOM WATSON: British Open at Birkdale I had about a 15-footer to 2-putt to win. I left that about this far short, yeah. (INDICATING ABOUT 3 FEET.) Trying to leave that thing short.

TOM WATSON: I had -- I have to say, I putted pretty well. I didn't feel very good with the putter in my hands today, but I putted pretty well. I made a good -- 3-putted the first hole. I hit a bad second putt from about three feet and I didn't hit a very good putt at 2; hit it about 20 feet from the hole there and didn't hit a very good putt; left it short and right. And 3 I hit it about 15 feet and rolled it by about four feet. I am saying, "oh, geez, here we go again." I rolled that right in the middle of the hole, and that kind of gave me a boost of confidence with the stroke. Then I hit two good shots at 5. 4, I made a good 2-putt there for -- after a 5-iron, and big swinging putt about 15 foot break there, knocked it down about a foot. Then 5, I hit a good drive, 3-wood, knocked it on the green, 2-putt there. Made my second putt from about four feet.

TOM WATSON: 45, 50 feet.

TOM WATSON: Probably the most disappointed I was at Turnberry a couple of years ago at the British Open. I really was playing well, and I thought I was putting pretty well. The last day the putter felt like an anvil in my hands. That was disappointing, probably the most disappointed I have been. As I said earlier, yesterday and the day before, I have always been able to have the ability most of the time to come back from a bad hole with a good hole and from a bad tournament with a good tournament. It's -- I don't know. It's not conscience. It is basically unconscious, and I think if you look back at my career, besides being really lucky, I have had that ability to do that.

TOM WATSON: Hole by hole? Here it goes. Number 1: I hit a driver and an 8-iron, and I pulled my 8-iron and it went down, hit it on the downslope, went all the way to the left back left of the green. I hit a good putt up there about this far short; pushed it (INDICATING ABOUT 4, 5 FEET) and didn't even hit the hole. Made bogey there. 2: I hit a driver, 8-iron, about 20 feet from the hole, 2-putted there. 3: I hit drive and driver and pitching wedge, about 15 feet and knocked that putt by about 4 feet and made that putt coming back. Number 4, I hit a 5-iron about 40 -- 45 feet from the hole. I had a big swinging putt, 15 foot break, knocked that ball up there, made a good putt there. 5: I hit -- I cut a real good drive off the tree there and down the fairway, 3-wood on the green; 2-putted from 45 feet and had a 4-footer for my second putt; ran first one by about four feet. 6: Driver, 5-iron, about 20 feet right behind the hole; 2-putted there. 7: I hit driver, 2-iron, pitching wedge about 15 feet behind the hole. 2-putted there. 8: I hit a 5-iron pin-high left, just to the fringe, almost chipped it in, just came half an inch from pitching it in; made 3 there. 9: Driver, 7-iron and 2-putted from about 45 feet. No birdies there at 9 today, I was told - not a single birdie. And 10: I hit big drive, hit a 7-iron about twelve feet from the hole, made that putt for birdie. 11: I hit a 2-iron off the tee. I hit a 4-iron for my second shot, pitching wedge, not very good shot, about 35 feet right of the hole, almost made that putt. 12: I hit an 8-iron to the center of the green, 2-putted from about 35 feet. 13: I hit a driver and a 7-iron about 20 -- probably about 25 feet and holed that putt for birdie. 14 is probably the critical shot for me. I hit a 2-iron off the tee. 9-iron in my hands, looking at the pin and the water, and I hit a beautiful shot right at the hole, ended up a 10-footer, and I just didn't have enough speed in the putt, broke off to right, parred there. Then I got careless, a little bit careless off the tee. The next hole I pushed my tee hole into the right trees, chipped out, hit a good 2-iron on the green. I hit my first putt by. It was a tough over and then down, knocked it by about five feet. And hit a terrible, terrible putt there, pulled it left.

TOM WATSON: The first putt was probably about 45 feet. Five feet by and missed the putt coming up, up the hill. That is what I needed. In the old days that putt would have either hit the hole or gone in, and, you know, this one, it just missed the whole left. But fortunately, I didn't have too many of those this week. And then 16, I hit a beautiful shot, 5-iron right at the hole and hit a good putt. Boy, I hit a good putt there, just didn't come right at all.

TOM WATSON: About 20 feet, 18 feet. And 17, I hooked my tee ball in the left bunker. I took an 8-iron out. I thinned it just a little bit and right at the hole, and just over the green, used a pitching wedge to chip it up a couple of feet and made that putt for par. 18: I hit driver, 6-iron and one putt for birdie.

TOM WATSON: That putt was, I'd say, about 8 -- 15 feet.

TOM WATSON: I hit them. I hit them in the hole.

TOM WATSON: I hit some good second putts.

TOM WATSON: 14.

TOM WATSON: When he eagled 15, I knew. I am looking at the board. I am looking 10 under, 10 under, 10 under. All of a sudden he pops up 11 under, so I know that is my competition.

TOM WATSON: Yeah, I asked Mark Rolfing, I said "Mark, what is he doing at 18" when he was walking up 17. He said, "he is on the green" and then we -- I walked off the green. Walking down the tee I looked at him; he said, "he made the putt." Now I knew I only had a one-shot lead.

TOM WATSON: I was hoping to get to the 18th hole with a 4 shot lead, but it just didn't occur.

TOM WATSON: It makes it sweeter, yes, it does.

TOM WATSON: Well, it is like winning all over again for the first time. I haven't won since -- really won a golf tournament for nine years, and I am thinking back in 1974 when I won the Western Open and how good that felt and what it was like to win that thing and how I won it. And I won that tournament with determination and good play in the last day, and it wasn't anything different today. That is what you have to do. I just haven't been able to put the four rounds together for the last three years or four years when I really felt like I have had the power to win golf tournaments again.

TOM WATSON: Yes, it did.

TOM WATSON: Yeah, there was a little bit of doubt. That is probably the reason why I missed the putt.

TOM WATSON: I said I can't do anything about it. I have been missing those putts for quite a long time, so you know, you can't think about it. You have to go on the 16th tee and try to hit a good shot the next hole. You just have to forget about it.

TOM WATSON: 300 -- what is it 325? That is a lot of money.

TOM WATSON: There is the competition of trying to beat everybody in that golf course for that week.

TOM WATSON: That is why I am -- that is what I am here for.

TOM WATSON: I love to compete and I enjoy playing the game. I mean, 20 years ago the short game didn't give me much problem.

TOM WATSON: It is kind of reverse roles. My long game doesn't give me much problems. My short game does. It is just you know, like Trevino says "everybody has there Achilles heal." It is awfully hard to put it all together. I have put it all together probably five or six times in my whole career.

TOM WATSON: You know what I am feeling inside? I feel like I can't wait until I tee it up in the U.S. Open. I just can't wait. I just -- I am, you know, I have been waiting for this victory for a long time. And I have put the four rounds together finally, and now I can't wait for the most difficult, most important championship, I think, in the world, that is coming up in two weeks.

TOM WATSON: I knew I did. I could remember the last time I threw that hat in the air like I did at 18. That was at Oak Hill, 1987, at the Tour Championship at San Antonio. I threw the visor better then. I threw a bad curve this time.

TOM WATSON: That is right. It didn't have a logo. It was yellow too, remember?

TOM WATSON: Well, at times it gets frustrating. At times I can't deal with the frustration; other times, I can. And today, I felt when I made the putt at 3 I said, "well, I made that one, missed the one at 1, but I made that one. So I am even." That is the way I look at it.

TOM WATSON: Yeah, first putt -- first hole, I said, yeah, here we go again and then not a very good putt at 2. Then not a very good first putt at 3. I have to make that 4 footer to save par. I make that I am even.

TOM WATSON: Yeah, it could have. It has happened before.

TOM WATSON: Sometimes I can deal with it. Even if I missed it, sometimes I can deal with it. I have dealt with it from the simple fact that I feel like as if I can hit, you know, fairways and greens, I will have a lot of opportunities for birdies, I can make up for it.

TOM WATSON: Walking --

TOM WATSON: No.

TOM WATSON: I wish I could remember that sensation again. I made all those putts on you (looking at Jack Nicklaus) that last round. (LAUGHTER) Boy, that was fun. Made them all. You remember that didn't you, woosh, woosh, woosh, man they were going in.

TOM WATSON: Birdies 5 out of the first seven holes and I am going, geez, I start making 40 feet, 30 feet, 20 feet.

TOM WATSON: I think the competition is -- it is compressed. You don't have the ability to have -- with the equipment the way it is and conditioning of the golf courses, I think the odds of somebody running away with a golf tournament today are not as great as they used to be.

TOM WATSON: Yeah, I was, 15 is always the makeup hole. That is the -- comes perfect time in the golf course, and you have got three tough holes finishing after 15 and you know, there is a 3-shot swing right there, Duval and me, and that is the big swing.

TOM WATSON: That was, yeah. Missed that one and 17.

TOM WATSON: You know, you saw some good scores being shot today, with the greens being softer today than they were yesterday. Yesterday they were the firmest they have been. Golf course is starting to play a little bit more difficult yesterday, I felt. Because of the firmness of the greens, but today with the rain, you could get away with not a perfect shot or not a real good shot with an iron going into the greens.

TOM WATSON: I don't know. I don't know what would have happened if they were fast greens.

TOM WATSON: I was watching him finish. I rushed home and watched him finish.

TOM WATSON: I made the putt at 10; I said, "ballgame is on now, these guys have got to come and get me."

TOM WATSON: Yeah, that is exactly why.

TOM WATSON: One of the things that Bruce did this week which I think helped my putting was he said "where are you trying to aim it?" I have been so stroke conscious just thinking about my stroke rather than the line and the speed. Many times I don't let my natural feeling take over the putt and just putt the ball down to the hole. I am just thinking about the stroke; may run it five feet by; leave it ten feet short because I am just thinking about the stroke; not the putt. And what he asked me every putt today was: "Where are you trying to play this? Where are you trying to play?" He said it every putt. And the short putts he said, "just think you are trying to make a birdie here." On those putts, par putts I have a little bit more trouble with.

TOM WATSON: Nothing. He was choking. (LAUGHTER). He didn't say anything at 18. Actually he did. He said "where are you trying to play this?" I said, "I am going to play this straight in." I remember playing it left when I missed the putt to lose to David Graham and stayed left. I played that thing straight in and it went right in the hole.

TOM WATSON: You can categorize it in maybe the second era of Tom Watson is the most -- it is the most satisfying win. But they are -- there are some other great wins at Turnberry; of course, Pebble Beach, this gentleman breathing down my back.

TOM WATSON: Not really. It just kind of -- kind of like a blob started happening in the middle '80s and mushroomed.

TOM WATSON: Just like a heavyweight fight, you get in there and first round you take a punch; you give a punch and when I gave when I took a punch on the first hole, I gave a punch on the third hole and it got me even for that round and I played good solid golf and when I made the birdie at 10, I said, "all right, these fellows are going to have to come and get me now."

TOM WATSON: I don't want to talk about my father.

TOM WATSON: Yeah, my dad, he taught me a lot about the game and he is -- it has been a while since he has seen me win a golf tournament.

TOM WATSON: Uh-huh.

TOM WATSON: My goal is just the same as it has always been: To win the next time I go out. And this makes me feel like I can win even more than -- obviously a lot more now since I have broken that barrier, broken through, went around the roadblocks and got there.

TOM WATSON: I like Lytham. When I first played there I didn't like the golf course. Second time I played there, I really got to like a lot of the holes on the golf course. I have never really been playing well when I have played there in three times I played in the Ryder Cup matches or the two Open Championships, but I am looking forward to it. I think that third hole is one of the great holes. I think that is sensational. 17 and 18 are no slouches either.

TOM WATSON: Not yet. Pretty soon.

TOM WATSON: I have been playing about 18 to 20 tournaments a year. I don't plan on playing a whole lot more than that. This one will put me in the World Series of Golf and I hope the Tour Championship. So I will be playing a couple of more tournaments. My schedule ends after the International.

TOM WATSON: Yeah, I am looking forward. It makes me want to play more.

TOM WATSON: Unfortunately, they weren't here. My daughter said, "come on, mommy let's fly up and see him play." She said, "no. He has been doing all right by himself. Let's let him do that."

TOM WATSON: No, no advice.

TOM WATSON: Would I have played as well? I don't know. I went through a stretch there in the middle '80s and late '80s, where I couldn't hit the ball very well and then finally I made adjustment with my shoulders and all of a sudden I started hitting the ball well and, boy, it was fun, it was just fun being out on the golf course again. And that is what drives me. It is a game to have fun. And thank God I can play for a living.

TOM WATSON: It just -- I just worked it out myself. I mean, it wasn't anything different than anything else I have tried but this one really stuck in my mind. I said, you know, if you are swinging the club out to the right all the time, the ball is going to go out there. If you swing it down the line over here, the ball is going to start off straight, and that -- that is when I made the change. Just squared up my shoulders a little bit rather than having my left shoulder so high. I remember Jack telling me that at -- what was it Walton Heath? when we were playing together as partners. I hit the ball out in the heather about five or six times, with him as my partner. He knocked it on the green every time but one. We won the match 4 and 3. I was so embarrassed. I am spraying the ball like this (indicating all over the place). He is making these great iron shots in the heather. He said, "you got to square up these shoulders a little bit." When I did it, I felt like I was going to hit more right. I finally got it through my thick skull what I was supposed to do.

TOM WATSON: Walton Heath playing in '81.

TOM WATSON: Oh.

TOM WATSON: You remember that? I remember that.

TOM WATSON: That was kind -- that was the phone call that Jack made to the room there that night where he said, come out to dinner. I said, well, I don't think so. He said, I understand. I thought maybe you wanted some companionship. I thought about it for 15 minutes. I called him back and said, yeah, we will come to dinner and have a good time forgetting that day and going on to the next tournament.

TOM WATSON: Yeah, we played golf too.

TOM WATSON: I was carrying Barbara's purse. I was okay.

TOM WATSON: The frustration, there is -- there is always a way around it. I mean, that is the beauty of the game. The beauty and the agony of the game is some days it is so easy and other games it is so tough and even though players say I hate this game or I don't like -- you know, you go out and you adjust and you find a way to do it and if you are in competition, you better find a way to do it. That is what I was always so good at is even though I couldn't find it, sometimes I still won golf tournaments. And I learned -- I learned early, pretty early in my career that you didn't have to play perfectly to win. You didn't have to hit perfect golf shots to win all the time. You just had to manage yourself well. And also helped to make three or four 30-footers a round, too.

TOM WATSON: It did help - just like the 18th hole.

TOM WATSON: I told you about the putts, 18th hole, I have had that putt before, looks like it breaks right. Bruce says it breaks right, doesn't it? I said, no, straight. Just played it straight. That is the advantage you have after playing here for, I don't know, how many years - a long time.

TOM WATSON: No. (LAUGHTER) No.

TOM WATSON: Not until I play again, that is right. It will still be there, but I will beat it somehow.

TOM WATSON: Well, I don't know. I just -- I think a lot of it has to do with being able to -- when I normally missed a lot of greens, I would win golf tournaments hitting 11, 10 greens, 9 greens a round and when the conditions got bad, the good players, the guys that could really hit it, they would start missing greens, but they couldn't get the ball up-and-down as easily as I could - that is the reason.

TOM WATSON: I will give him a call soon. All right, thank you very much. (APPLAUSE)