There are so many legends strolling around the links here at the Senior Open in St Andrews, it’s as if there’s been a mass break out from the display cabinets of the British Golf Museum.
Golden oldies? It’s like guddling in the archives at Fort Knox. A field comprising 20 major winners, 23 senior major winners, 38 Ryder Cup players and 10 former US and European captains have made this over-50s showpiece the talk of the Auld Grey Toun.
Even the redoubtable Hale Irwin has been lured back at the sprightly age of 73. “Would I be here at 73?,” mulled Colin Montgomerie with a contemplative peer to the heavens. “God, no, no, let’s hope not,” he added with a beaming chortle.
Read more: Stewart Fisher: Mentor Murray’s succession plan is taking shape
In this game for all the ages, competitive longevity know no bounds in this stellar gathering of venerated veterans.
Tom Watson has been coming to this neck of the woods for many a year. “In 1978, there wasn’t much here in the town, it was pretty closed down at night,” he reflected. “Now, there’s a lot going on, it’s fun.”
The town may have changed but Watson’s indomitable spirit and passion for this Royal & Ancient pursuit has not.
As one sage once said, “golf giveth and golf taketh away … but it taketh away a hell of a lot more that it giveth.” For all his conquests, there were the come downs. Watson never did manage an Open win in St Andrews – the 1984 loss remains a sore one – despite claiming four of his five Claret Jugs on Scottish soil.
Three of his Senior Open wins, meanwhile, have been achieved in Scotland and those wily eyes are, well, eyeing another silver lining. Reacquainting himself with the links this week has stirred the senses again and the way he’s been playing in the practice rounds has roused the spirits.
At 68, though, Watson knows all about golf’s fickle fortunes. “You never really want to admit it but I was pretty happy with the way I’ve been playing here,” he said with quiet confidence. “I give myself a chance here.
“But this game is diabolical. Just as quickly, golf can take it right away from you. It can take it right out of your gut.”
The modern day gowfers, meanwhile, can take great chunks out of the storied Old Course. A traumatising 61 in the Dunhill Links the other year showed just what can be achieved when the fortifications are compromised by a lack of wind.
To combat the bombers, the stretching of the course often looks like the tees have been put on a medieval rack to extract a confession. “We used to walk off the greens and go right to the tee, they were side by side,” said Watson. “You finish, say 14, and it’s a case of ‘where’s the tee? Oh, there it is way back there’.”
Read more: Stewart Fisher: Mentor Murray’s succession plan is taking shape
As driving distances increase, could Watson envisage a time when the cherished Old Course’s place on the Open rota would be under threat by the bombardments of heavy, golfing artillery?
“No, I can’t, it’s always going to be there” he added before delving into a prolonged conversation about the development and impact of the golf ball, from the featherie to the Pro-V1.
Watson is keeping his own eye on the ball and is here to attempt to fill something of a void.
“I always remember what Jack (Nicklaus) said, “Watson added. “He said, ‘your career is not complete unless you’ve won an Open at St Andrews’. It would’ve been nice to have that feather in my cap but I can’t complain. I’ve got a few of them. When I finished my Open Championship career here (in 2015) my last four shots were a shank and three putts. I want to make good on that this week.”
For the aforementioned Montgomerie, meanwhile, it’s down to business again this week. The 55-year-old has three senior majors to his name but the Senior Open continues to elude him.
He was runner-up last year. Unfortunately for Monty, the prolific Bernhard Langer finished 13 shots ahead of him.
“Langer hasn’t let up in any way,” said Montgomerie of the evergreen German who is targeting an 11th senior major this weekend.
As a talisman of many a European Ryder Cup campaign, it was inevitable that talk of September’s transatlantic tussle would crop up in the wake of the recent US dominance of the majors being ended by Francesco Molinari’s Open win last Sunday.
“Thomas (Bjorn, the captain) is probably looking at the best team we’ve assembled for, well, almost ever.”
The assembly for the Senior Open is the best ever too. The older swingers in town are raring to go.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here