Tom Watson grateful to go out his way

Turned pro: 1971.

How qualified: Two-time Masters champion.

Best stat on Friday: Two minutes of applause after he completed his final competitive round in the Masters.

The first ovation on Tom Watson’s final walk up the 18th fairway at Augusta National lasted 55 seconds.

Playing in his 43rd and final Masters, Watson reached the front of the green and stopped. He applauded the crowd, patrons lined up so many rows deep they could only glimpse bits of the two-time Masters champ.

Watson pointed to them and then to his heart.

“It was a special walk up the 18th hole,” he said.

Finally, he walked to his ball, which was on the back of the green, 66 feet from the pin.

He read the putt. Wanting to give it everything he had in what could be his final swing of a club in a competitive round at a place he loves dearly, he walked back to the front of the green and gave the putt another read.

After two practice swings, he stepped up to the ball and gave it a tap. As the ball reached a ridge on the green, the patrons began to urge it toward the hole. The closer it got, the louder they roared until the ball stopped inches from the hole. One last memory.

Thirteen more seconds of applause followed. Watson tapped in for a par and 6-over 78 on the day, 8-over 152 for the tournament. Twelve more seconds of applause followed.

His playing partners finished and quickly left the green so those there on a beautiful and windy day could love Watson one more time.

Watson’s wife joined him on the green. Augusta National members, at least nine, began applauding.

Watson, his arm around his wife, walked for the final time from the 18th green to the scoring room. Two more minutes of applause pushed him there.

So ended Watson’s 134th round in his 43rd Masters, and what a fitting end it was for the 1977 and ’81 champion.

Watson revealed last year that this would be his final Masters. The course had become too long and too tough. At 66 years old, he could no longer keep up. He had made just two cuts in the tournament since 1998.

“I’m glad I don’t have to hit 5-woods and 3-woods into 18 anymore,” he said, laughing. “That’s what it’s all about. That’s the reason I’m not playing here anymore.”

Watson intimated that he is done playing any tournaments against the younger players, unless they are on a 6,400-yard course. He said he will continue to play the Champions Tour. He still wants to win and did his best to make that happen Friday, even though each hole was an avalanche of applause for the eight-time major champ.

Fans would start to clap as soon as he would start walking and stop when he stopped walking.

He tipped his cap, waved or raised a club in salute while trying to keep his focus. He fell short because he couldn’t make enough putts, a problem that he had at some points in his career.

But Watson said he has no complaints because all he wanted to be while growing up as a shy kid in Kansas City was a professional golfer.

He still remembers the scores of his first professional tournament: 68-68-74-74. He thinks he finished 32nd.

He said it took a while to learn how to win. Win he did: 39 times on the PGA Tour and 14 more on the Champions Tour.

He rattled off a few of the memorable moments in his career: Winning the U.S. Open in 1982 by chipping in on 17; losing his caddie Bruce Edwards, who was diagnosed with ALS; and Royal Turnberry in 2009, when he missed a chance to win his sixth British Open because he was beaten by Stewart Cink in a four-hole playoff.

But Watson had no complaints Friday. He was grateful to go out his way: a golfer trying to win.

“I was trying to not make it my last round,” he said.