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  1. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Mal View Post
    Interesting thought experiment: what if Watson had won the Open at the age of 59? A 9th major, and the oldest man to win one by a decade and a half. One could argue that a single 12 foot putt might be the difference between "obviously one of the top 6 or 7 of all time" and "one could make a legitimate case he's not quite in the top 10." Anyway, I had more fun watching that '09 run than one has a right to. I just kept saying "I can't believe this is actually happening."
    I like to extend that experiment a little, and give Watson 15 majors, more than Tiger. This is even with his putting abandoning him after the early 1980s.

    1978 Masters: Gary Player doesn't shoot a 64 and Watson makes one of two or three easy putts late in the round instead of missing them.

    1978 PGA: He doesn't collapse nearly as badly on the back nine, John Mahaffey doesn't play well enough to catch him, and/or he wins in the playoff.

    1979 Masters: Playoff between Watson, Ed Sneed and Fuzzy Zoeller. Fuzzy wins? Really? Watson clearly had trouble with short-form playoffs in majors. (He won an 18-hole playoff in the '75 British.)

    1983 US Open: Larry Nelson doesn't sink a 62-foot putt on 16. Watson makes a five-footer on 17 or his birdie attempt on 18, whch goes right over the cup, falls in.

    1984 British: Watson makes any of several makeable 15-25 footers on Sunday on the easy St. Andrews greens. I won't hold the bogey on 17 against him; it's the Road Hole.

    1987 US Open: Scott Simpson's bunker shot on 15 (I think) doesn't hit the stick and drop to three feet. Watson doesn't bogey the first hole, playing as a par 5, on both Saturday and Sunday as the leader. Seriously, Scott Simpson? This still annoys me. As in 1983, Watson and the winner were several strokes clear of the field.

    2009 British: You know the story.

    I don't mean to say Watson was better than Tiger or anything; you can flip this around and make Watson look like the British Open's version of Andy North. The point is to show how often a guy like Watson was around in the end and that the ones he did win were no fluke. For more fun, try this with Greg Norman.

  2. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by hurleyfor3 View Post
    I like to extend that experiment a little, and give Watson 15 majors, more than Tiger. This is even with his putting abandoning him after the early 1980s.

    1978 Masters: Gary Player doesn't shoot a 64 and Watson makes one of two or three easy putts late in the round instead of missing them.

    1978 PGA: He doesn't collapse nearly as badly on the back nine, John Mahaffey doesn't play well enough to catch him, and/or he wins in the playoff.

    1979 Masters: Playoff between Watson, Ed Sneed and Fuzzy Zoeller. Fuzzy wins? Really? Watson clearly had trouble with short-form playoffs in majors. (He won an 18-hole playoff in the '75 British.)

    1983 US Open: Larry Nelson doesn't sink a 62-foot putt on 16. Watson makes a five-footer on 17 or his birdie attempt on 18, whch goes right over the cup, falls in.

    1984 British: Watson makes any of several makeable 15-25 footers on Sunday on the easy St. Andrews greens. I won't hold the bogey on 17 against him; it's the Road Hole.

    1987 US Open: Scott Simpson's bunker shot on 15 (I think) doesn't hit the stick and drop to three feet. Watson doesn't bogey the first hole, playing as a par 5, on both Saturday and Sunday as the leader. Seriously, Scott Simpson? This still annoys me. As in 1983, Watson and the winner were several strokes clear of the field.

    2009 British: You know the story.

    I don't mean to say Watson was better than Tiger or anything; you can flip this around and make Watson look like the British Open's version of Andy North. The point is to show how often a guy like Watson was around in the end and that the ones he did win were no fluke. For more fun, try this with Greg Norman.
    That dam IF. I got to go with the guys that did it, not the IF's.

  3. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Indoor66 View Post
    That dam IF. I got to go with the guys that did it, not the IF's.
    So do I. Thing is you do the same thing with Tiger and you get only two or three more Majors (07 US Open, 09 PGA and maybe one other somewhere). Do it with Phil or Norman and you get another five or six. Or Arnie. He blew his share of majors along the way.

  4. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by hurleyfor3 View Post
    So do I. Thing is you do the same thing with Tiger and you get only two or three more Majors (07 US Open, 09 PGA and maybe one other somewhere). Do it with Phil or Norman and you get another five or six. Or Arnie. He blew his share of majors along the way.
    But he won all his. They blew theirs. You can not like Tiger. I am not enamored with him as a human being, but you have to give the devil his due. He is the best. He still won more events than anyone else last year. Majors are not the only measure. Check out his overall winning percentage of tournaments played and he stands above all.

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