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THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY ROLEXJuly 28, 2012Tom WatsonTURNBERRY, SCOTLAND Q. 66 with a double bogey at the first. Where did it come from and what was particularly good in your game today? TOM WATSON: Well, it wasn't very good at first. I thought I hit a pretty good drive and it ended up in a bunker, and then a three‑putt, and a start that I kind of figured I was going to have today with the way I was hitting it on the practice ground before I played and was warming up very poorly, and I made an adjustment with my golf swing about midway through the front nine and started hitting the ball on the club face for the first time in a while. It's amazing where the ball kind of goes where you want it to go when you hit it on the club face. Q. What was the adjustment? Everybody will be wanting to know. TOM WATSON: Just tried to keep it a little bit more square taking it away and not picking it up so much. Kind of playing by feel. The wind was blowing pretty strongly out there, and I really hit a good shot at 8 both off the tee and the second shot, and then 9 I hit a really good approach shot in there about two or three inches from the hole for birdie, and it was kind of off to the races. I really felt that I kind of had it under control with my golf swing, it's just a matter of testing it out and confirming it, and it confirmed it the back nine. I played a good back nine. Q. You started the day ten shots behind the leader. You started to get it going. Have you got a goal in mind? TOM WATSON: No, you play it a hole at a time; it's just the old cliché. You can't be thinking about somebody you have no control over. The only person I have control over is myself, and it was a good, tough‑‑ the conditions were tougher out there for the early groups out there, more wind than we have right now, and of course we had a little bit of rain, and conditions were tough. I'm very happy‑‑ obviously I'm very happy; 66 on this golf course is very pleasing. That sticky toffee pudding tonight is going to taste awfully good. Q. What would you say is a satisfactory score for the guys teeing off right now? TOM WATSON: I think under 70 is a satisfactory score. There's still‑‑ 14 is a good tough hole to play, even though we're playing a shorter tee, and the wind is quartering a little bit differently, it's playing a little bit more in your face on some of the inward holes, and that makes for some difficult shots. So you know, the golf course has changed a little bit today, so they're going to have to adjust to that difference in the wind direction. Q. Any thoughts of tomorrow being a contender? TOM WATSON: Well, I didn't have any thoughts when I teed off today, especially after double bogeying the first hole, the way I've been playing and hitting the ball, but once I made the adjustment‑‑ we'll just have to see what happens tomorrow. I'm going to be quite a number of shots out of the lead I'm sure after today's round is finished. I'll just have to wait and see and see how the leaders do and see how they manage on this golf course today. It looks like the wind is dying down just a little bit, so they should have better scoring conditions today than yesterday in the afternoon, that's for sure. Q. Are you aware you're only four shots behind at the moment? TOM WATSON: I'm not aware. I am? Well, that's‑‑ these fellows, they have some holes to play, and there's some birdie holes out there. I'm particularly happy‑‑ you can ask my friend Andy North about how I warmed up on the practice range today. I finally asked him, I said, "Andy, just give me a clue," and he gave me a little bit of a clue. That didn't work, but I adjusted and made the adjustment with my swing, and‑‑ Q. Did it just suddenly click in your mind? TOM WATSON: It does, yeah. It did. It made some sense. I was getting flippy and loose and poor timing at impact, and I said, let's just tighten it up, and as I tightened up, I hit some quality shots. I hit a beautiful 3‑iron at 15 today. I hit‑‑ it played 195 yards, I hit it to about five feet from the hole and made the putt for birdie. So that was a solid shot. My long iron game has really been off for these four weeks. I've really struggled with it. I'm hitting the ball pretty well, but for the most part I'd have to say that's the strongest club in my bag. I made a long putt at 3, but I adjusted my shoulders at address putting and opened them up just a little bit, and the follow‑through was more positive, and I started making some putts. And the long putts, I darned near made four long putts today, I left it dead in the heart short three times today from a long way away. So it was a good day on the greens, and with the exception of the first hole, it was‑‑ obviously it was a very pleasing round. Q. Must have been exactly what you wanted. You've seemed frustrated. TOM WATSON: This game does that to you. This is a frustrating game. You simply don't have control over it all the time, and you just hope to have control of it at the right time. With the 75 yesterday, that probably put me maybe a little bit too far out, but you never know what Turnberry is going to produce with the players today. I may have an outside chance if I play a great round tomorrow. Q. You come back from adversity very well. Was the head ever down at all? TOM WATSON: Yeah, you get disappointed. You get out there, and at times you just don't feel like you have the tools to play the golf course. You just don't simply have‑‑ you may have one tool working, and the other 13 tools aren't working. Today at the end of the round, I felt like all the tools were working. That's the first time I've had that feeling in the five weeks I've played. Since I started five weeks ago, this is the fifth tournament in a row I've played, and I haven't had the feeling I had today on the golf course once in the five weeks. Q. Because of your history here, do you believe a little bit more here than you would going into the final round at any other golf course? Does it give you a wee bit more confidence? TOM WATSON: Well, basically what will happen tomorrow if I'm within striking distance, I'll have to confirm what I did today right off the start and hit the quality shots right off the start, and that'll give me the confidence that I can shoot a good round. Q. Have you had any thoughts going past that plaque on 18? TOM WATSON: I looked at it today. I drove right by that thing. I hit a beautiful drive in the fairway there today and hit an 8‑iron, same club I hit in 2009 almost over the green. I hit it over the green yesterday with a wedge. I know how to play that hole. I should have played it to the right front there using the wind to my advantage and letting the ball bounce up there. But I just tried to hit the ball just a little bit left of the hole because that flag is protected in that right by those mounds there, so I played a little bit away from the direct line of the flag, and the wind was blowing that way. I left the putt dead in the heart short at the last hole, just like I did three other putts today. But I made plenty of putts. The tools are working right now, I hope, and I hope‑‑ as I said, I hope I can confirm that tomorrow when I start. Who knows what might happen after that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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