Being an eight-time major winner, Tom Watson hardly needs to teach himself much about the game of golf but it seems even he feels there were things that stopped him being even more successful.
Watson had a glittering career and was one of the world’s most dominant players in the ’70s and ’80s, having particular success at The Open, which he won five times.
The American very nearly made it six as well back in 2009 but threw away a golden chance to allow Stewart Cink to sneak in and win via a playoff.
Quite whether Watson knows what went wrong for him on those final few holes in ’09, only he knows.
But speaking previously about one element of his golf swing that held him back, Watson admitted there was something he wishes he’d learnt earlier.
The swing problem Tom Watson believes stopped him winning even more
With 39 PGA Tour wins and those eight major championships, Tom Watson can hardly look back on his career and have any sort of issues.
However, being a man of class and honesty, Watson is always open to critiquing himself and speaking back in 2011, Watson admitted there was one swing issue he could have fixed earlier.
“I don’t have any regrets in my golf career, honestly. But the one thing that I wish I’d learned earlier is the secret I talk about in my book,” he explained.
“And that secret is very simply, if I take my shoulders back, then I come back with them on the same plane. But before, I would take my shoulders back here [demonstrates swing] and then go there, ‘reverse C’. That killed me a lot, lot of times and it kept me you know, inconsistent.”
How Tom Watson came just a playoff away from being a Grand Slam champion
Winning eight majors is a hugely impressive feat but just like players like Phil Mickelson and as of right now, Jordan Spieth, the Grand Slam got away from Tom Watson.
He won twice at Augusta, five times at The Open, and won a single US Open in 1982. However, he never quite got the PGA Championship and came agonisingly close in 1978.
Watson finished at eight under par at Oakmont alongside Jerry Pate and John Mahaffey and the tournament went into a sudden death playoff.
Watson managed to make par on the opening playoff hole. However, when it came to hole two, he and Pate could only make par and they looked on as Mahaffey sunk a 12-foot putt to make birdie and win the tournament.
It was the final big chance for Watson, and he never came as close again, leaving the Grand Slam on the table and very much giving him a case of what might have been.
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