Watson Seeks To Be Oldest Post Hip Replacement Non-Champions Tour Major Winner

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Watson says he's not surprised by his round, which would be consistent with his pre-tournament comments. What makes it even more amazing is that he's just nine months removed form hip replacement surgery performed here in the Home of the Homeless.

Turnberry, Scotland. July, 2009 -- Tom Watson's first round of 65 put him at the top of the leaderboard of the British Open, nine months after he had anterior hip replacement surgery in October, 2008. Watson returned to competitive golf in January, 2009 just three months after the surgery performed by Dr. Joel Matta at the Hip and Pelvis Institute at St John's Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. Watson has participated in several Champions Tour events this year.

Turnberry in 1977 was the site of one of the most momentous duels in major championship golf history. Watson and Jack Nicklaus posted 66s on Saturday that year, then Watson bested Nicklaus by a stroke on Sunday, 65 to 66, to win the Claret Jug, the British Open trophy. Two years earlier Watson won his first Open victory at Carnoustie. He went on to win three more titles at Muirfield, Troon and Birkdale. “It’s good to play in an Open at Turnberry again,” said Watson after he returned to the site of his epic 1977 win. His 65 on Thursday defined how well he has recovered from last October's surgery. The March, 2009 issue of Golf Digest featured Watson's hip replacement surgery

The anterior approach surgery procedure is a technique that minimizes the pain and time from surgery to recovery. The anterior approach allows the surgeon to reach the hip joint from the front of the hip as opposed to the lateral (side), or the posterior (back) approach, both of which can cause significant muscular damage. With the anterior approach the hip can be replaced without detachment of muscle from the pelvis or femur during surgery. By way of this anterior approach the surgeon can simply work through the natural interval between the muscles, rather than detaching them. In this way the gluteal muscles that attach to the pelvis and femur are left undisturbed in the anterior approach. Therefore, these muscles do not require a healing process after the surgery.

The merits of the anterior approach procedure are several: 1) Less muscle trauma for the patient; 2) reduced hospital stay; 3) smaller incision - 4 to 5 inches as opposed to 10 to 12 inches; 4) faster recovery - 2 to 8 weeks as opposed to 2 to 4 months; 5) additional benefits include reduced pain, reduced tissue healing required, reduced risk of dislocation, and a more rapid return to normal activities.