Tom Watson: Ego Got In The Way In 1984

Tom Watson, getting ready to say goodbye to easily the greatest Open Championship career in the modern era and perhaps ever, tells The Scotsman's Martin Dempster that ego got in the way of his winning at St. Andrews in 1984.

From Dempster's story, talking about the ill-fated approach:

“So I took the risky shot, the shot that would land on the green, a very narrow place to hit it. But I hit a lousy shot, pushing it 30 yards to the right.” It came to rest close to the wall, from where Watson was unable to get up and down. Given a mulligan, he’d have played the hole the way Nicklaus, a two-times St Andrews winner, had advised him to.

“Jack always said you go for the front of the green, never go beyond,” added Watson. “But I thought, ‘I can do this’. My ego got in the way. On top of that, I hit a bad shot. That’s how I assess it. But I don’t have any feeling of that being a missed opportunity. I have won more than my fair share. It just didn’t happen here at St Andrews.”

If you go to the 22:50 mark, you can see Watson's approach and the attempted recovery. I remember watching this live and the horror of it all from the American perspective, but have forgotten how unclear he was about his tee shot's resting place.