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Masterful Watson turns back the clock

Tom Watson embraces his long-time caddie Bruce Edwards on Thursday after his ball dropped following a long putt on the ninth hole for a birdie at Olympia Fields Country Club in the first round of the US Open outside Chicago. Watson finished the round with a five-under-par 65. PHOTO: REUTERS

The ball defied gravity, but not for long. Tom Watson defied age, at least through the first round of the US Open.

Watson brought Olympia Fields to life on Thursday with a round for the ages, a 5-under 65 that matched his best in 105 rounds at the US Open and gave him a share of the first-round lead with Brett Quigley.

All it took was a 40-foot birdie putt and a few anxious moments as the ball hung on the edge of the cup at the par-3 seventh hole, teasing the 53-year-old Watson as he strolled to the hole preparing to tap in for par.

Then it fell.

Watson kicked up his left leg and raised his arms, then bowed to a delirious gallery.

He followed that with a 20-foot birdie putt that rammed into the back of the cup, just like the Watson of old, and closed out his memorable day with a 6-footer for par.

Twenty years removed from the last of his eight major championships, Watson finally made Olympia Fields seem like a US Open.

"Who would have thought?" Watson said, his gapped-tooth smile as big as ever. "Who would have expected I would have shot a round like that today?"

Everyone figured it would have come from defending champion Tiger Woods, who tiptoed around Olympia Fields in the cool, damp morning for a pedestrian score of even-par 70.

Until Watson came along, the leaderboard was littered with names usually seen at the John Deere Classic, not the toughest test in golf.

Quigley has been to PGA Tour qualifying school more times than the US Open, but he played with gusto on the back nine -- seven consecutive one-putt greens -- for a 65 and a share of the lead.

Justin Leonard and Jay Don Blake were another stroke back, part of the two dozen players who broke par on the easiest first day of scoring in 10 years at the US Open.

The goal of the US Open is to identify the best players, not embarrass them.

On Thursday, it did neither.

While nearly one-third of the field was at par or better, the only two rounds in the 80s belonged to 51-year-old Don Pooley and 16-year-old Tom Glissmeyer.

"This is the type of course where anyone can win, from Fred Funk to Tiger Woods," said Robert Allenby of Australia.

Throw Watson into the mix.

Along with the birdie putt that eventually fell, Watson holed a 6-iron from 170 yards on the tough 12th hole. It was pure magic, his best in the US Open since a 65 in the second round at Olympic Club in 1987.

Walking to the ninth green, the crowd saluted him with three standing ovations.

"The body was a little stiff today; the back was a little sore," Watson said. "But the magic was still there with the putter."

Watson's only other US Open title came in 1982 at Pebble Beach, when he chipped in for birdie from off the 17th green to beat Jack Nicklaus.

Whether he can sustain this for three more days remains to be seen, although Watson has history on his side.

"Did I come here to win? I came here to play my best," Watson said.

So did everyone else, it seems.

As expected, this US Open was shaping up to be truly open.

There was a mixture of power players and guys who rely on precision, and most of them found some unusual circumstances for a US Open -- greens that were firm, but still receptive to shots hit out of the 4-inch rough.

Woods played cautiously and conservatively, aiming away from the flags and getting only a few looks at birdie. He was headed for a round over par until hitting a 3-iron from 237 yards that stopped 20 feet away. He holed that for eagle.

British Open champion Ernie Els, playing in the same group with Woods and US Amateur champion Ricky Barnes, had a bogey-free 69. Barnes had a 71.

"You guys may think it's easy because guys are shooting under par, but it's not -- trust me," Woods said. "All it takes is a couple of errant shots."

Watson didn't have many of those.

His only bogey came on his first hole, the par-4 10th, but he atoned for that with his eagle from the 12th fairway.

The real drama came on the par-3 seventh, when Watson's 40-foot birdie putt slowed as it got to the cup and hung on the lip -- then disappeared to a cheer that drowned out the commuter trains next to Olympia Fields.

"What that ball fell in, that was something special," Watson said. "It stopped short and people were groaning. I'm walking up to it and said, `That is so close, how could it not be in?' And then, hey, it went in."

On a day like this, how could it not?
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