Tom Watson recalls U.S. Open glory

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Tom Watson recalled playing Pebble Beach while attending Stanford in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After a couple of trips, the starter told him he wouldn't have to pay the $15 greens fee any longer.

Times have changed. It now costs $495 to play the famed seaside links. Watson is 60 and preparing for his 31st – and likely his last – U.S. Open.

What will never change is the link between Watson and Pebble Beach, where he hit one of the greatest shots ever in an Open – the chip from rough off the green at the 17th hole that dropped into the cup for a birdie and victory over Jack Nicklaus in 1982.

That was one of his eight major championships, a total that includes five British Opens.

"The nostalgia, I guess it comes when we get to the 17th tee or 17th green and the 18th tee, and everybody wants to take a picture," Watson said Wednesday. "It kinds of reminds me of what happened, what occurred here before. It's pretty sweet, pretty nice."

The World Golf Hall of Famer is playing this Open on a special exemption granted by the U.S. Golf Association. It is his first championship since 2003, when he shot a 65 in an uplifting first round alongside his caddie, Bruce Edwards, who was suffering from ALS.

He is less than a year removed from a near-miracle finish at the British Open, where he needed a par on the 72d hole to become the oldest-ever winner of a major. He bogeyed the hole, however, and lost to Stewart Cink in a playoff.

As for this year, Watson is encouraged by his game.

"Keeping it out of the rough, that's the No. 1 thing," he said. "I'm doing that well. I'm driving the ball well, so that's the key. No. 2, I'm putting the ball pretty well. So I feel pretty good about that. But the X factor here is the conditions, and 17."

The par-3 17th, where Watson made history, will play at 208 yards to a tiny green. With any wind, it will be impossible to keep the ball on the green off the tee.

"It's going to be a hard hole for me," he said. "When I won here in '82, I birdied it three out of four days. Back in those days I could hit the ball straight up in the air, hit it soft with a long iron. I can't do that as well anymore."

Watson said another important factor will be to not go overboard analyzing every shot.

"The U.S. Open brings about some negative thoughts, as you can tell by my conversation here," he said with a laugh. "There are a lot of negative thoughts. [The key] is to keep it as simple as possible. That's the best thing to do in a U.S. Open: Don't get it too complicated."

As for the future, Watson said he feels he could play a while longer, maybe one year, maybe three, maybe six.

"I hope it's a long time," he said, "because that's what I am. I'm a golfer, plain and simple. That's what I do. And when I can't do it any more on a competitive level, it's going to be a sad day."

The future. The USGA announced that Pebble Beach would host the Open for the sixth time in 2019, which will be the course's 100th anniversary. The association awarded the 2017 Open to Erin Hills, a public golf course in Erin, Wis., about 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee.