Smyth comes close as Watson triumphs
Ireland’s Des Smyth missed out on victory at the Senior British Open tonight, after losing out to Scottish links specialist Tom Watson in a play-off.
The 51-year-old Irish golfer can console himself with a cheque for £105,250 (€151,784).
Smyth was philosophical about his defeat. “I shot 68-67 over the weekend, so I played well over the last two rounds,” he said.
“I had a couple of three putts and you can’t do that against this class of opposition. I hit a poor tee shot at 17th. My concentration maybe just lapsed a bit but Tom’s a great champion.”
It was American Watson who enjoyed the glory at the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club however, winning the title for the second time in three years
Just like in 2003 at Turnberry, the 55-year-old needed extra holes - three on this occasion – to take the £157,800 (€227,567) first prize.
Watson, a five-time Open winner – four of which were at Muirfield, Turnberry, Royal Troon and Carnoustie, prevailed after the pair had tied at four under par.
As both players parred the 18th twice the third hole switched to the par-three 17th where Smyth found sand off the tee and blasted out but could not hole his 20-foot par putt.
Watson two-putted from the back of the green for his first victory in more than two years having won the Tradition major on the Seniors Tour just a month after his British Seniors Open.
“This trophy certainly means something to me,” said a delighted Watson.
“It was something of a struggle and it looked as if we could have played that 18th hole all night and still been locked together.
“This is a beautiful course – everything you look for in a links test. We got to know it better over the last two rounds and that showed in the scoring.”
Overnight leader Watson was caught by Greg Norman and Smyth and although the Australian dropped off the pace the Irishman virtually matched his American counterpart shot for shot from the eighth onwards.
Europe’s Ryder Cup vice-captain had a lucky escape at the last when his wayward drive missed the gorse and he was able to produce a good enough recovery to save par and finish with a 67 to tie with Watson, who shot 70.
Norman holed a 25-foot birdie putt at the last for a 68 to finish three under while Craig Stadler shot a 72 for a one-under-par total and good enough for fourth place.
Collated final round scores & totals in the Senior British Open, Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, Scotland (UK unless stated, par 71):
280 Tom Watson 75 71 64 70 (Watson wins at third hole), Des Smyth (Irl) 73 72 68 67
281 Greg Norman (Aus) 76 67 70 68
283 Craig Stadler (USA) 73 68 70 72
284 Loren Roberts (USA) 72 74 71 67
287 Derrick Cooper (Eng) 73 80 64 70, David Eger 80 70 72 65
288 Mark McNulty (Zim) 76 72 72 68
290 Eduardo Romero (Arg) 75 71 75 69, Ray Stewart (Can) 73 77 75 65, Martin Gray (Eng) 77 73 71 69
291 Mark James (Eng) 74 75 70 72, John Bland (Rsa) 76 78 65 72, Noel Ratcliffe (Aus) 80 74 69 68
292 Lonnie Nielsen 81 74 70 67
293 Horacio Carbonetti (Ar) 75 73 72 73, Frank Conner 73 74 75 71, Seiji Ebihara (Jpn) 77 70 72 74, Giuseppe Cali (Ita) 73 73 77 70, Carl Mason (Eng) 75 78 68 72, Bob Gilder 76 74 72 71, John Chillas (Eng) 75 74 73 71
294 Bill Longmuir (Sco) 80 71 72 71, Katsuyoshi Tomori (Jpn) 78 76 73 67
295 David Oakley 80 77 65 73, Luis Carbonetti (Arg) 76 78 74 67, Ian Mosey (Eng) 76 77 66 76, Martin Poxon (Eng) 81 73 74 67
296 Andy Bean 76 75 74 71, Sam Torrance (Sco) 77 75 75 69, Eamonn Darcy (Irl) 78 74 78 66, Tom McKnight 82 75 66 73
297 Alan Tapie 74 75 77 71, Bruce Heuchan 77 78 71 71, Don Reese 77 76 72 72
298 Isao Aoki (Jpn) 75 75 75 73, Maurice Bembridge (Eng) 77 75 75 71, Bobby Lincoln (Rsa) 77 72 75 74, David Russell (Eng) 80 74 70 74, Denis O’Sullivan (Irl) 76 77 72 73, Mike Ferguson (Aus) 77 78 70 73
299 Manuel Pinero (Spa) 81 76 74 68, John Harris 77 75 76 71, Norm Jarvis 77 71 78 73
300 Rex Caldwell 80 75 74 71
301 Adrian Morrow (Irl) 79 78 71 73, Donald Stirling (Aut) 79 76 74 72, Terry Gale (Aus) 73 81 75 72, Mike Sullivan 78 77 74 72, Joe Inman 85 72 71 73, Bob Shearer (Aus) 78 75 75 73
302 JohnE Morgan (Eng) 77 80 74 71, Gavin Levenson (Rsa) 77 79 76 70, Jim Rhodes (Gb) 78 73 76 75, Gery Watine (Fra) 78 79 72 73
303 Nick Job (Eng) 76 81 75 71, Russell Weir (Sco) 79 74 74 76, John Grace (USA) 82 73 73 75, Bob Charles (Nzl) 78 78 74 73, Peter Jacobsen 83 74 75 71
304 Gary Player (Rsa) 82 74 72 76, William Milne (Sco) 79 78 76 71
305 Kevin Spurgeon (Eng) 78 75 75 77, John Jacobs (Eng) 79 78 74 74, Bertus Smit (Rsa) 84 72 73 76, Yoshimi Niizeki (Jpn) 82 72 74 77, Doug Johnson 75 81 76 73
306 Delroy Cambridge (Jam) 80 74 79 73, Christy O’Connor Jnr (Irl) 81 73 75 77
307 Guillermo Encina (Chi) 78 77 79 73, Brian Evans (Eng) 78 74 80 75, Gary Koch 84 73 73 77
308 TR Jones 84 72 79 73, Ray Carrasco 82 75 77 74, Tony Price (Wal) 75 80 80 73
310 John Baldwin 80 75 75 80
311 Martin Foster (Eng) 77 79 80 75
314 Denis Durnian (Eng) 77 80 80 77
320 Andy North 76 79 84 81.
