Historic Walton Heath means a move inland
It might have been the best Ryder Cup team ever assembled by the United States. Led by Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Lee Trevino, it included 11 players who would combine for 49 major championships. The result of the 1981 Ryder Cup remains the most decisive victory for the United States on European soil: 18.5 to 9.5.
Thirty years later, some of the principals of that historic romp return to Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England, for the Senior British Open, including defending champion Bernhard Langer and three-time winner Tom Watson, coming off another age-defying performance at the British Open, where he tied for 22nd, enhancing his reputation as the greatest links golfer in history.
Walton Heath, which is in the London suburbs, bears little resemblance to the seaside courses where the 61-year-old Watson built his reputation, however.
| UP NEXT |
| Senior British Open |
| When » Thursday-Sunday |
| Where » Walton Heath GC, Surrey, England |
| TV » ESPN |
| FIVE TO WATCH |
| Bruce Vaughan |
| Vaughan, the 2008 winner at Troon, and Pete Oakley, the 2004 champ at Royal Portrush, are the only Americans in the field other than Watson who have captured this event. |
| Ian Woosnam |
| Woosnam is one of eight in the field who won the European Open when Walton Heath hosted (1978-91). |
| Tom Lehman |
| He’s coming off solid work in the British Open, where he tied for 22nd. He has three wins this year on the senior circuit, where he is the runaway leader in Charles Schwab Cup points. |
| Nick Price |
| The 54-year-old has been eligible for a while but is making his first Senior British Open appearance. Family vacation plans have prevented him from playing in the past. |
| Peter Fowler |
| The hottest player on the European Seniors Tour has been the 51-year-old Fowler, who has won two of the last five events. |
“The golf course is pretty straightforward as far as knowing what to do,” Watson told reporters Wednesday. “The bunkers and the heather are right there in front of you. They almost say, ‘Come here. Come here.’ And you have to say no.”
Watson is bidding to become the first player to win four Senior British Opens. His first three came at Turnberry (2003), Aberdeen (2005) and Muirfield (2007), the last two via playoff. He will skip the most prestigious major on the Champions Tour, the U.S. Senior Open next week, to play in the PGA Tour’s Greenbrier Classic, where he is the pro emeritus.
Langer, who won the Senior Open at Carnoustie last July, is coming off a thumb injury. The 53-year-old, who missed the cut last week at the British Open, won the European Open at Walton Heath in 1985.
“It’s parkland with a links look and feel to it,” Langer said. “I enjoy the heathland, the trees and the bunkering. All in all, it’s a great inland course.”
Langer was a Ryder Cup rookie in 1981 and the first golfer from Germany to play in the event. He’ll be joined in the field this week by five of his teammates from 30 years ago: Irishmen Eamonn Darcy and Dez Smith, Scots Sam Torrance and Sandy Lyle and Englishman Mark James.
Other U.S. players from the 1981 Ryder Cup who tee off Thursday are Tom Kite and Jerry Pate.
Even the master of links golf, Watson, sounded anxious last week to be done with the harsh conditions typical of seaside golf in the British Isles.
“Links golf is fun to play, but you need a break,” Watson said last week at Royal St. George’s. “[The Open] Championship is played on links golf courses, and that’s its moniker. That’s its badge. That’s what it is. People don’t understand what links golf is. They see golf courses all around the world called ‘the links.’ Well, they’re not links. They don’t play firm and hard and fast and fiery like this.”
