It Was "Turn Back The Clock Day" Today at The Open Championship

If you live on the East Coast, you probably set your alarm clock for 6:45am, got up, made yourself a cup of coffee, and turned on the television to catch a couple of hours of the Open Championship before heading off to work.

Only upon turning on your television, something seemed a little out off.

Maybe you shook your head a few times or went into the bathroom and threw some cold water on your face in an attempt to jump-start your mind at that early morning hour.  Your next step was probably to hit the ‘info’ button on your remote control to ensure that you were indeed tuned into the correct channel; yet something was still not quite right.

Perhaps the Open was in the midst of a weather delay and TNT was showing old highlights of the 1977 Open Championship?

But as the caffeine from your coffee began to kick in, you realized that this was no highlight reel of the 1977 ‘Dual in the Sun’, and Tom Watson was indeed winning the 2009 Open Championship at five-under-par after 18 holes.

Exactly one year ago, Greg Norman was making his miraculous run at a third Claret Jug at the age of 54.

Norman came up just short in the end, but provided the golf world with the feel-good story of the 2008 season.

Now, amazingly enough, Norman’s improbable run at the 2008 Open Championship has been overshadowed by 59-year-old Tom Watson.

Having won five Open Championships during his career, Watson is certainly no stranger to success on links golf courses.  Watson is also no stranger to success at Turnberry.  After all, he defeated the greatest player of all time on the exact same golf course a mere 32 years ago.

Watson’s playing partners this morning were Sergio Garcia and the 16-year-old Italian amateur, Matteo Manassero.

Just to put Watson’s age into perspective—Watson defeated Nicklaus in the 1977 Open Championship at Turnberry three years before Garcia was even born.  Furthermore, at nearly 60-years-old, Watson is nearly old enough to be Manassero’s grandfather.

Watson was the clubhouse leader this morning after firing an opening round 65, which included five birdies and not a single bogey on his card.

At around 5:30pm local time, Ben Curtis also turned in a scorecard with a 65 on it and joined Watson atop the leaderboard.

Then, at around 6:40pm local time, Miguel Angel Jimenez sunk a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th to complete a six-under-par round of 64 and take the outright lead.

Although Jimenez is not nearly as old as Watson, he is no young pup either.  Jimenez is 45-years-old and is still in search of his first major championship victory.

Aside from 45-year-old Jimenez leading with 59-year-old Watson lurking just stroke behind, there was more to "Turn back the clock day’" at the Open Championship.

Mark Calcavecchia (1989 Open Champion) and Mark O’Meara (1998 Open champion) each shot 67 and sit just three strokes off the lead.

Tom Lehman (1996 Open champion) carded a two-under-par 68, as did John Daly (1995 Open champion).

Tiger Woods is only 33 years old, so perhaps he was not invited to participate in Turnberry’s "Turn back the clock day" in the opening round.

Not only did Woods come in with a score of 71, which was six-strokes worse than the oldest member in the entire field, but he was also flat outplayed by 17-year-old Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa.

Woods spent much of his day in the high fescue while Ishikawa calmly hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation, which is precisely why Ishikawa carded a 68 while Woods limped home with a 71.

Woods finished off his opening round this morning in a way that was eerily reminiscent of his Opening round at the US Open less than a month ago.

When Woods came out on Friday morning to finish his opening round of the US Open (due to the weather delay), he had brought himself back into contention before playing the final four holes in three-over-par.

Woods was also in contention as he came to the 15th hole this morning.  But, similar to Bethpage, Woods played the final four holes in two-over-par while also missing out on an easy birdie opportunity at the par-5 17th.

Woods now finds himself in almost the exact same position he was in less than a month ago at Bethpage. 

If Woods does not go out and shoot at least 3 under par tomorrow afternoon, he may create a deficit too large for even the world’s number one to overcome.

There’s still a lot of golf left to play, but those players who did not take advantage of the perfect weather conditions today will be facing a challenge over the next three days as difficult as swimming the 12 miles from Turnberry to Ailsa Craig in the freezing cold Irish Sea.