We’ll also have some portions of the piece up at PGA.com, but for today, here is my U.S. Open preview: Emerald, Sapphire, and Gold. The Tom Watson/Herbert Warren Wind articles from 1983 that I found in the basement were worth their weight in treasure.
From the piece, Watson recalls his miracle chip-in at 17:
“Watson had played the difficult par-3 well all week: two birdies and another near-miss. He went for the pin but came over the top just a bit. “I swung too much,” he admitted. “The ball landed hard to the left of the green . . . It rolled to where I could not see it, and I said to myself, ‘Uh-oh, now I’m dead.’ ”
Everyone else thought so too. Four-inch rough, short-sided and downhill to a green running away from him: the worst shot a golfer can leave himself, especially with the national championship on the line. By all rights, Watson’s chip shouldn’t have stopped until it reached Spyglass Hill. One golf writer reminisced that he wrote at the time, “Nicklaus must surely have thought, ‘Bogey. I win,’ and everyone else thought it, too.”
“But when I got to the ball I saw I had a good lie, and then the sun chose that moment to come out. I had a good feeling all over,” said Watson.”
See everyone from Pebble Beach starting Tuesday.
