By Paul Sullivan
From the 18th fairway within the ultimate group of the British Open in 2009, Tom Watson, the five-time Open champion, hit a shot that flew proper on the pin. For a second, it seemed like Watson, then age 59, would win the event for a report sixth time and turn out to be the oldest participant to win a serious championship.
A agency bounce despatched the ball off the again of the inexperienced, and Watson wanted three extra pictures to get the ball into the outlet. That dropped him right into a tie for first. In the four-hole playoff, he ran out of gasoline and misplaced by six pictures.
A decade in the past, the thought of an older golfer contending in, not to mention profitable, a serious championship was one thing few thought of. That was nonetheless the time when most golfers petered out of their mid-40s and kicked across the golf world earlier than having a quick resurgence on the Champions Tour after they turned 50.
The man who beat Watson that day, Stewart Cink, is now a part of a gaggle {of professional} golfers defying age and expectation to contend and win tournaments and majors. Cink, 48, has gained twice this season on the PGA Tour, his first wins because the 2009 Open.
Stewart Cink. (FILE)
Leading these middle-age mavericks is Phil Mickelson, who, about to show 51, gained the PGA Championship in May. He beat Brooks Koepka, a four-time main winner, and Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, who’re each of their 30s.
The group additionally consists of Lee Westwood, 48, who gained his third Race to Dubai in 2020. He then completed second to Bryson DeChambeau on the Arnold Palmer Invitational and runner-up the subsequent week on the Players Championship to Justin Thomas.
At final month’s U.S. Open, Richard Bland, 48, of England, turned the oldest individual to ever lead that event on the midway mark. He had additionally been the oldest first-time winner on the European Tour, when he gained the Betfred British Masters in May.
“All these guys have taken a new approach,” mentioned Dave Phillips, co-founder of the Titleist Performance Institute, which focuses on golf and health. “There’s a lot of money out there. They realize they can still compete with the younger guys, but they need to spend more time on their body and what they fuel their body with.”
Phillips, who trains Jon Rahm, the 26-year-old winner of this 12 months’s U.S. Open, has for years been a part of Mickelson’s coaching staff.
Cink, who’s within the discipline this week at Royal St. George’s, mentioned his two wins this season couldn’t be attributed to anyone factor. “Being 47, 48, just doesn’t feel like I thought it might feel when I was 28,” he mentioned. “My heart and mind make me feel like I’m 10, 15 years younger.”
He credit membership know-how, but in addition the health routine that gamers who got here up with Tiger Woods embraced to compete towards him.
In this file picture, Tiger Woods strains up a putt (Source: USA TODAY Sports)
Westwood mentioned he had at all times labored on being match, and it has paid off. But he additionally is aware of his limits.
“Everyone talks about how far Bryson hits it, and he hits it miles,” Westwood mentioned. “If you’re younger you might try to keep up with him. At 47, 48, you’re wiser and more knowledgeable. I couldn’t keep up with him if I wanted to. But I can hit it first and closer to the pin and put a bit of pressure on him.”
Mickelson has been very public about his coaching routine, together with how he hits “bombs” — his time period for the very lengthy drives he hits previous youthful gamers. But he’s additionally making higher choices on the course, Phillips mentioned, like his strategic play in profitable the PGA Championship this 12 months. (His caddie is his brother, Tim.)
Phillips mentioned what Mickelson and the others had been doing offered classes for older golfers. “It’s not strength, but the recovery and the downtime that matter,” he mentioned. “It’s letting your body recover. Everyone wants to get fitter, stronger, faster. They’re upset when they don’t see the results. But what they’re doing is fatiguing to the body more so than a round of golf.”
Crucial for older gamers? Maintain leg power, Phillips mentioned, and meaning stroll, don’t trip, whenever you play golf.
“There’s no doubt when I came out on tour in 1996 generally you were thought to retire from professional golf in your mid-30s and take a club professional job,” mentioned Padraig Harrington, 49, winner of three majors and the European captain for the Ryder Cup this 12 months. “Then more money came into the game. And now there is no job that would pay you as well as being on tour.”
Of course, incomes cash and profitable are very various things, he mentioned. When the gamers he competed with of their prime win as we speak, he attributes it to their skill to concentrate on that second.
“One of the big things you see with Phil, myself, Lee Westwood is when we’re not in contention it’s tough,” he mentioned. “When we do get into contention, we get back into it. We’re much better when we’re in contention than when we’re in that gray zone. Sunday when there’s a bit of energy, we get going.”
