“Their name liveth forevermore.” – Inscription on a granite RAF monument on the back nine at Turnberry in Scotland
The weekend was pretty close to perfect. We, as in my wife Kathy and I, had planned to go up to Eureka Springs and stay at the Crescent, after winning a one-night stay at the state’s most famous haunted mansion in a silent auction. It didn’t happen because on closer inspection of the gift certificate I saw that the room could only be reserved on Sundays through Thursdays, which caused us to postpone our trip for another time and allowed me to stay home and do nothing but read and watch The Open Championship. So as I write this year’s champion at Royal Birkdale has yet to be decided.
The British Open has always been one of my favorite sporting events, for many reasons. One is that it’s always in July, when we southerners are struggling through our hottest days of the year. So it’s always refreshing to see the fans in the United Kingdom out watching their golf, in the gray and the cold and the damp, while being pushed about by gales from the North or Irish Seas, as they witness the game that began there centuries ago. But it seems like the last few years our warmth has gone abroad, sorry about that mate.
It’s also sadistically fun watching the pros as they fight wind and rain, struggling to make pars and bogeys. When conditions are like that, no other tournament they play is tougher.
One of the most memorable Opens came way back in 1977 at Turnberry when Jack Nicklaus shot 68-70-65 the first three days, only to find himself tied with a 27-year-old mid-westerner named Tom Watson, who had dared to shoot identical scores.
It was later called “The Duel in the Sun,” because the weather that week on the west coast of Scotland was unseasonably warm, and because it was a duel of classic proportions, the likes of which have not been seen since.
Watson had proven himself to the Scots two years before at Carnoustie, when he won his first Open, and he came to Turnberry in ‘77 as the reigning Masters Champion.
When Nicklaus arrived, he had already been the Golden Bear for years, having won 14 of the 18 Major Championships he would eventually hold. That would have changed to 15 at Augusta in April, had it not been for Watson, who had bested Jack by two shots.
Here is how the late sportswriter Dan Jenkins described the end of the classic links battle at Turnberry in his July 18, 1977 Sports Illustrated article.
“…it was at the most torturous time of all, out there at the par-3 15th hole in the last round after Watson had just stabbed Nicklaus through the front of his yellow sweater with a 60-foot birdie putt from the hardpan 10 feet off the green. That astonishing shot hit the flagstick and dived into the cup and brought Watson into a tie once more.” “They went to the 16th tee and Jack and Tom looked at each other. The blond and the redhead. Yesterday and today. Then and now.
And Tom smiled at Jack. ‘This is what it’s all about, isn’t it?’ And Jack smiled back and said, ‘You bet it is.’” Both players would par the 16th. On the 17th Watson smoked a three-iron over the top of the flag, leaving a 20-footer for eagle. That shot may have caused Jack to flinch a bit and he missed the green but made a great chip back to four feet. Watson easily two-putted for birdie, throwing more pressure at the Bear, who missed his putt, giving Watson the lead alone for the first time in 71 holes.
Tom didn’t let up, playing the par four 18th perfectly. He had less than two feet left for birdie and his second Open Championship. Nicklaus made an unbelievable birdie of his own, sinking a forty-foot putt, but still leaving him an agonizing stroke behind. He had shot a 66; Watson a 65.
Hubert Green, who had won the U.S. Open the month before came in third, 11 shots behind.
More from Jenkins, “In a certain amount of privacy, Jack shook his head and said, ‘I just couldn’t shake him.’ “With that, Nicklaus looked off in thought with something of the expression of an aging gunfighter. He did not say he had been expecting someone to come along one of these years. But the look seemed to indicate that he had finally met him.”
Photo Caption:
The Ailsa Craig, as seen from the Ailsa Course at Turnberry in Scotland where Nicklaus and Watson held their epic battle in 1977.