Five With A Flourish

"He was a hard-drinking, heavy-smoking Englishman who loved to caddie, who loved his job," Watson says of Alfie. "You don't play as much by yardage there as by feel -- what the wind is doing and what you think the ball is going to do when it bounces. I relied on him some, sure."

Watson had relied on him enough in his maiden British Open -- which he won in an 18-hole playoff over a fellow 25-year-old, Australian Jack Newton -- Fyles told Sports Illustrated's Frank Deford in 1986, that Fyles thought his pay insufficient. He said to Watson, "You must need this more than me." "Maybe there was a dispute," Watson says now. "I didn't pay very much back then, but nobody paid very much back then. I don't recall a dispute over the check. Bruce [Edwards] just wanted to caddie for me."

Without Fyles in 1976 at Birkdale, Watson missed the 54-hole cut. Fyles and Watson reunited in 1977 at Turnberry and were together for the rest of Watson's British Open triumphs. Fyles smoked the Pall Malls Watson brought him from the States; Watson listened more often than not when Fyles surmised a shot. "All you've got is your bag carriers now," Fyles told Deford. "All they can do is give the golfer a weather report -- not the right club. Once it was all eyeball." One Friday morning during their years together, Fyles reported to work with a black eye. "I joked, 'Hey, Alf, what'd you do, get in a fight last night?' " Watson says. "He said, 'Yeah, over your honor.' I said, 'Did you win the fight?' He said, 'What do you think, sir?' "

Newton and South African Bobby Cole appeared to have the tournament in hand during the final round when they got to 12 under, three clear of their closest challengers, who included Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus and Watson. But Watson, who was coming off demoralizing collapses in the 1974 and 1975 U.S. Opens, played solidly, making a 20-footer for birdie at the 18th to shoot 72 and finish at nine-under 279. Some Americans had trouble adjusting to slower greens in the U.K., but not Watson.

"He was so bold, it was easier for him to get locked in on the speed than a lot of other guys," says close friend Andy North. "He hit his putts so solidly and was so aggressive, [those greens] fit his putting stroke beautifully." The playoff was held on a rainy day in front of a sparse gallery as workmen disassembled the grandstands. "There were very few people following us because we were no-names," Watson says. The golf was nip-and-tuck, the outcome uncertain until No. 18 when Newton bogeyed from a greenside bunker to shoot 72 to Watson's 71.

"Sir John Carmichael, who was captain of the R&A, presented me the trophy," Watson says. "He said, 'I'd like to present the winner of the 104th Open championship, Tom ? Kite.' I just smiled and took the trophy from him, and people were yelling, 'It's Tom Watson.' "

The Best

BY THE SUMMER of 1977 Watson was at the pinnacle of the sport. He topped the PGA Tour money list that season for the first of four straight years. The earlier meltdowns seemed like ancient history, especially after Watson defeated Nicklaus in a tight battle at the '77 Masters.

"It's kind of like making the second end of a one-and-one free throw when you really have to," Watson says of prevailing at Turnberry after defeating Nicklaus that spring at Augusta. "You make the first one, then you make the second one. The Masters did increase my confidence."

Watson and Nicklaus trailed Roger Maltbie by one stroke through 36 holes but, paired together for the last two rounds and each refusing to yield, turned the championship into a duel for all-time. The raucous galleries, reveling not only in the play but the unusually sunny weather, erupted in explosive roars for first one man, then the other. "It was wild," says Maltbie, who played directly behind them in the third round. "The people were running. There was a drought, and it was like we were playing into a cloud of dust all day. The cheers were remarkable."