Still trim and athletic at 58, Watson looks a lot less like the Huck Finn character he often was compared to in his youth than a mature farmer, his deeply furrowed brow the crop of a lifetime working outdoors. A private person never eager to let too many people too close, Watson has been bothered for years by an arthritic left hip that eventually will need to be replaced, a problem he doesn't talk much about but sometimes shows in his gait late in rounds in his limited Champions Tour appearances.
"It's bone on bone," Watson says. "It doesn't hurt me walking, and I restrict the motion in my swing that can make it hurt. It just hurts me sleeping. Laying motionless, it creates pain. It's nothing I can't handle right now. When I can't deal with it, I'll have it replaced. I've been told to put it off as long as possible, and I think that's good advice."
Watson marvels at how Woods won the recent U.S. Open despite a severe leg injury. "He's tougher than I am, tougher than I was," says Watson. "He's the best who has ever played, and I've been saying it for a long time. More than anything, his attitude. One thing you can't overlook is his power. It's second to none. His ability to get the ball up and down is second to none. His skills with the putter are higher than anybody out there. If you have power and a putter -- and a great short game and imagination -- you'll find a way to get it done."
A few weeks ago in the Watson Challenge, a 54-hole stroke-play event he started in 2007 to give competitive golf in the Kansas City area a boost, Watson laughed off a cold shank on the 35th hole en route to winning. "My son, who was caddieing for me, wasn't laughing too much," Watson says, "but there was nothing I could do after I hit it except try to get the ball up and down, and I did. The thing you learn in life is, what has gone over the cliff you can't get back. You can't do anything about the luck of the bounce. You never give up. Jack was the best at it. So was Gary Player."
Never give up, never be forgotten. That, too, was a Watson motto, composed on a quintet of courses far from home, indelible for the ages.
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