Mitsubishi Electric Classic
- When: Friday-Sunday
- Where: TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth
- Defending champion: Olin Browne
Even Tom Watson has hit a few ill-timed bad shots during his Hall of Fame career, so he can sympathize with what happened to Jordan Spieth on Sunday at Augusta National.
“It’s happened to every one of us,” said Watson, who is competing in this week’s Mitsubishi Electric Classic at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth. “(Spieth) hit the wrong shot at the wrong time and compounded it by hitting another bad shot. You don’t follow one bad shot with another bad shot, but it has happened to all of us.
“He’s not alone in the disappointment of failing to get something you really want.”
Watson may never have suffered a collapse like Spieth, whose quadruple bogey in the final round cost him a second straight Masters title. But Watson famously bogeyed the final hole of the 2009 British Open and lost the Claret Jug to Stewart Cink in a playoff, a setback that left a scar.
The key, according to Watson, is to figure out the problem, fix it and forget about it.
“You just have to analyze the shot that failed and work on it so it doesn’t fail the next time,” Watson said. “I’ve always been hard-headed enough to stick with it until I felt like I made some success out of the failures.”
Last week Watson, a two-time Masters champion, had to deal with the emotions of competing in the event for the 43rd and final time. Watson, 66, said the course has grown too long for him, that his playing partners were hitting 7-irons in the 18th green that he was assailing with a 5-wood.
Watson does plan to return to Augusta to enjoy the Champions Dinner and to play in the Par-3 Contest. There he played with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, a trio that could reunite at the event for years to come.
But Watson didn’t think of his final Masters appearance as an opportunity to take a series of ceremonial bows. He was more concerned with trying to make the cut and get a chance to play on the weekend. He came up two shots short of that goal.
“The emotions are what they always are,” Watson said. “I’m a professional golfer and I try to go out and play the best golf I can every time I’m on the golf course. That’s just me.”
So don’t expect any sort of emotional lull from Watson when he tees off Friday at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, where he’s back in the field for the first time since 2013.
“I’m ready to carry on,” he said. “I’m going to play several more Champions Tour events. I still enjoy the competition and I’m certainly going to enjoy the shorter courses. Sugarloaf is a long course, but it’s not quite as long as Augusta National plays.”
He has curtailed his schedule, competing in eight or fewer senior events over the last four years. This season, he has played only once and finished tied for 11th in the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
Watson tied for 17th when he played at the inaugural tournament at Sugarloaf in 2013, then known as the Greater Gwinnett Championship. He referenced the elevation changes at Sugarloaf, which forces golfers to hit from uphill, downhill and sidehill lies throughout their round.
“And the last hole (a reachable par-5 over water) is a great finishing hole,” he said. “It’s really a very good golf course.”
Notes: Withdrawing from the field were D.A. Weibring, Gary Koch, Peter Jacobsen, Jim Thorpe and Russ Cochran. That opened spots for Bobby Wadkins, Mark Wiebe, Grant Waite, Jeff Hart and Brian Henninger. … Monday qualifiers were Jeff Haas, Scott Parel, John Inman and Greg Bruckner. … The annual Novelis Celebrity Challenge on Saturday will feature Hall of Famers John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, along with Arizona Cardinals punter and former Georgia star Drew Butler. The trio will compete to raise money for the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
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