Golf-Evergreen Watson turns back clock with glorious ace

SANDWICH, England, July 15 (Reuters) - Five-times champion Tom Watson prompted huge roars from the gallery when he recorded the 15th hole-in-one of his career during the British Open second round on Friday.

The American, who swings the club almost as gracefully now as he did in his heyday, saw his four-iron tee shot at the 178-yard par-three sixth take one hop before disappearing into the cup.

Watson lifted both arms into the air before celebrating by hand-slapping playing partners Henrik Stenson of Sweden and British amateur Tom Lewis.

“I didn’t see it,” the 61-year-old Watson told reporters after returning a level-par 70 for a two-over aggregate of 142 at Royal St George’s. “I just saw it on the TV replay there and it was a slam dunk.

“If it missed the flag it would have been 30 feet by. But it was lucky—they’re all lucky when they go in.

“It was into the wind. Old guys hit four-irons 170 yards into the wind, the kids are hitting six-irons.”

The pink-shirted Watson beamed with delight when he walked on to the green and playfully tapped down his pitch mark to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Watson’s hole-in-one was the second of the tournament, coming a day after compatriot Dustin Johnson aced the 16th in the first round.

THREE PUTTS

The veteran, who came agonisingly close to winning the third major of the year at Turnberry in 2009, may have been excited about his ace but he was less than pleased with his performance on the greens.

“I am disappointed about the three three-putts I had today,” said Watson. “My distance control was not very good and I missed six-to-eight foot putts.

“That would have put me at one-under for the tournament rather than two-over. The winner is going to be around par somewhere, I think,” added Watson referring to the bad weather forecast for the weekend.

“The conditions are going to make it super difficult the next two days.”

Watson still retained hopes of getting involved in the title shake-up come Sunday.

“I guess I refuse to be a ceremonial player,” he said. “If my putting was a little bit better I’d give myself at least an outside chance, let’s put it that way.”

The fans again showed how much of a crowd favourite Watson is, cheering his every move. There were lots of cries of ‘Come on, old Tom’ and the golden oldie lapped it up.

“What I love about the crowds over here is they are sitting around these greens and they may not have seen a ball hit within 40 feet of the hole all day and when it gets to 50 feet they clap,” he explained.

“They clap for a 50-footer, you know?,” he added with disbelief in his voice.

Asked how long he would keep playing, Watson replied: “Until this body says ‘no mas’.

“If I am out there not able to compete and I am shooting 80 or 78 or 76 all the time. I’m not going to stay around very much if I do that.”