Tom Watson - "Emergency Nine with Arnie" SHORT TRACK

Kathy Cornelius 0:07

Straight down the middle.

Tom Watson 0:10

It went straight down the middle. Then it's I uh I have a story about Arnold Palmer, which is really kind of it's a it's a funny story. We were playing a practice round on the uh uh I want to say it was Tuesday, it might have been Wednesday even. Uh he was in the group behind me, and he was playing with Jerry Pate and Andy Bean. And I was playing, I forget who I was playing with in front of me, but after we finished playing, we went into the library right there uh between the clubhouse and Greywalls, and we sat down to have had something to drink. It never put any water in the golf course back in those days. Man, it was just you're always dry. And uh so we're sitting down there having a drink, and here comes Arnie, he comes in the door first, and then comes Jerry Pate. And Jerry starts yapping, he starts saying, Man, I just beat the king, I just beat him like a drum, I beat him out of$300. I I'm playing so good like this. Well, he was sticking the needle into Arnie, right? Right. Well, Arnie sits down there and he has a beer. And uh he he he listens to this, he doesn't say much, and then but Jerry keeps on him. He said, Yeah, I'm playing so good. I beat him like a drum, like this. And Arnie gave him some crap back and like this, and he finishes, you know, he finishes his beer, and he and he he he gets that he gets that look in his face. This like this, this look in his face, and he slaps me on the knee and he said, Tommy, let's go play these sons of bitches. So mind you, we just played an 18-hole practice round. We're gonna play an emergency nine in the open championship. Yeah, for a little money. Let's go tee it up. And so we go to the 10th hole, and Arnie rope hooks it in the left stuff. You know, and Bruce, you remember the Muirfield this tall.

Mike Gonzalez 2:19

Oh, it was awful.

Tom Watson 2:20

It was that you mean it was it was 10 to 12 inches tall like this. You could you could barely find the ball, much less move it. I hit mine right to right with the left left to right win. Arnie duck hooks it, and Jerry he stands up there and he hits this beautiful little tight draw. Go, ball goes straight right down the middle of the fairway. And he just he's posing, you know. So Arnie goes against his, he goes left, I go right. Arnie hits first, I look back at Arnie hitting this ball. He takes his mighty swing like this, it goes 10 feet. And he stomps up and he goes like this, and it goes 30 feet, and he goes up there and puts the ball in his pocket. So I'm over here in the right stuff. I take a sandwich out and I I hit as hard as I could just to get out, and it bounds up there short of the crossbunkers. Then it's Jerry's turn. Well, Jerry hits this five-iron and he hits this most beautiful shot. I mean, it's going right at the flag. A little tight draw again against the hard left or right wind. Just a straight shot. Beautiful shot. And he's he's posing up there and he says, get in, get in, like this. And uh maybe the ball almost went in. It was that good a shot. And he goes about eight feet past the hole. I go up for my ball and I hit a sandwich, I hit a pretty good shot, but he hit about 25 feet past the hole. I get up over my putting and right then and there Jerry Pate found out what was gonna happen. Because little did anybody know in that group, anybody, including my caddy Alfie Files, that was the week I putted my absolute best in my career. 1980 Open Championship at Mirrorfield. I made everything. That 25-footer was like a two and a half footer and went right in the middle, it could have gone into a thimble. Jerry, of course, missed it. They never won another hole. Automatic one downs. Never won another hole. We get to the 16th T, and he and and Jerry's has stopped. Hey, he had stopped yapping. Lost his voice. And he's walking, we're walking up there, and and Jerry said, Press. And Andy Bean, his partner, said, I ain't pressing. No, I ain't pressing. And so we ended up the round, and Arnie comes over there, grabs me, said, Tommy, nice job, man.

Mike Gonzalez 5:02

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Kathy Cornelius 5:22

It went smack down the fairway. And it started to slice, just smit off land. My head is as long as you're still in the state, you're okay. It went smack down the middle.