Best Local Hero
Tom Watson
In Tom Watson's honor, people across the metro left their garage and shop televisions on while they puttered at home this summer. While they changed oil and swept floors and repaired clocks, they keened an ear to the breathy tones of golf broadcasters, listening for Watson's name. And it was said a lot: Watson's game came together this year in a way it hadn't since 1982, when his putter stopped working. He shot a 65 on the first day of the U.S. Open, he won two major tournaments in the Champions Tour, and he finished second in four of the over-fifty tour's other events. It was a wonderful season for the man who honed his sweet swing on the hilly fairways of Kansas City's Swope Memorial Golf Course. But Watson didn't use his return to the spotlight to hype his own accomplishments or his past glories. Instead, he was a nonstop telethon for ALS research. In January, Bruce Edwards, Watson's caddie for most of the past thirty years, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Watson spent his media time pumping up the caddie who had pumped him up so many times over the last three decades. His gloss doubtless generated donations for research into the incurable disease. Meanwhile, Watson wrote checks of his own to help pay Edwards' medical bills. Still classy after all these years.
Comments (0)