GOLF/US Open: Yep, you get tears at the US Open. Normally, they're tears of pain, of anguish. For the past two days, they've been tears of emotion. Nice emotion, the sort of up-lifting, feel-good emotion that raises spirits and makes you believe golf is not what life is all about - but that it does matter, really matter in the scheme of things.
Certainly, for Tom Watson, it does. And for his caddie Bruce Edwards it does.
In January, two weeks after he'd proposed to his wife Marsha, the 48-year-old bagman was diagnosed with amytrophic lateral sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's disease - for which there is no cure. The illness slowly and painfully attacks the spinal cord and the lower brain stem. Edwards has been told he is unlikely to see 50.
For the past two days, the resolute spirit of the man has been evident. The USGA told him he could use a cart if he so wished. He refused. Like a true professional, Edwards insisted he would carry his master's bag. So it is that at various stages of the opening two rounds, Edwards - who has carried Watson's golf bag for almost 30 years - could be seen intermittently stopping on tees and pulling a plastic bag out of his pocket that was holding some of the 162 pills he must take daily and washing them down with water.
As Watson took a trip from his weekly grind on the Champions Tour - for the over 50s - to a fully-fledged major championship, he used his return to the limelight to publicise the plight of sufferers of ALS. Watson, who has contributed $200,000 to research and established the Bruce Edwards Foundation, remarked: "An orphan disease is a disease the drug companies can't make any money finding a cure for, because there are not enough people who have it. The disease needs help in funding, because money can speed up the cure," said Watson.
Yesterday, as Watson, a blast from the past who shared the first round lead, added a 72 to his opening 65, the galleries around the course responded to Edwards's battle. Of course, there were shouts of encouragement for Watson; but they were there for Edwards too: "Come on Bruce, we're rooting for you" and "You can beat this thing" were common.
"I love what I do and I think that makes a big difference to how I feel," insisted Edwards. And Watson - who won his only US Open at Pebble Beach in 1982 - fed off his caddie's determination.
"Sure there's a lot of emotion out there," insisted Watson. "Put yourself in Bruce's situation and my situation and what it means to do well at this late stage of your life playing in the tournament you want to win the most." Watson didn't sustain his first round effort, but he didn't go away either. On Thursday, he had a miserly 23 putts in a round which included holing out with a six iron from 171 yards for eagle on the 12th. Yesterday, as if to prove how fickle the game can be, Watson had 34 putts in his round and, on that 12th hole, suffered a three-putt which led to a double-bogey.
"I was just treading water," admitted Watson of a second round that saw him fall off the pace slightly, but not so much he was looking to throw in the towel. "To win the (US) Open requires precise shot-making, just hole after hole after hole. But you're going to have a stretch in the 72 holes that you can't let get to you and that stretch I hope has seen me today and passed me by.
"I believe I can still win this. A lot of things have to go right for me to beat the kids but I still have a chance," said Watson, now 53 years of age. "I'd like my last big run, my last hurrah, to be in the next 36 holes . . . that's what I'd like for my last big run. Then, I might just say 'see you'."
For Watson and Edwards, that would be a fitting farewell . . . but even if it doesn't happen that way, the first two days of the US Open at Olympia Fields have shown golf is not selfish, it can inspire too.
