Risk and Reward

 BY TOM WATSON 17-11-2009

Tom Watson How I gambled to win the 1982 Open? Occasionally you need to run a risk rather than play the percentages.

+ Putting: Reading the greens

+ Play a hybrid from the rough

+ Play it more up than you think

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If you’re trying to win a tournament or a bet in your weekend fourball. I took a big chance in the last round of the 1982 Open at Troon.

I came to the par-5 11th, the famous Railway Hole, trailing Nick Price by two. The drive is nearly blind, over a sea of gorse. Out-ofbounds is on the right, towards the railroad tracks, and the fairway bends right and narrows as it progresses. I’ve teed off with as little as a 5-iron to play safe, but being behind, I hit my driver.

My key when I absolutely have to hit the fairway is to pick a precise aiming spot and focus solely on it. Here I’m using a hazard stake, but back at Troon in ’82, I used a yellow gallery-crossing sign.

Tom WatsonI hit a beauty, then followed with a 3-iron to three feet and made the putt for an eagle. That started a good run and forced Nick’s hand.


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Guru ~ 2009-11-17 11:38:56
So good to see that he has got an extra 5 years playing the Open. I wonder if he will take those? He said that next year at St Andrews will probably be his last.

Breeze ~ 2009-12-28 21:06:35
Remember it well as we were backing our fellow Zimbabwean !!!! So chuffed that he later made it!

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