Tom Watson

“If a course needs to be in great condition to be played effectively, then the design strategy is flawed.”

“You don't have to go to church to be spiritual, but there are certain times in your life that you know there is a presence of something very spiritual.”

“When you come off that last hole and you've just finished a good round of golf, life is good. When you come off that last hole and you messed it up through four or five holes and just played a lousy round of golf, it's just not a very good day. It just isn't.”

“Golfers who play a lot of courses often encounter short ledges or retaining walls, and I always had fun hopping down from them. I could jump off something six feet high and land like a cat, no problem. Well, today I can't jump off anything higher than two feet without it just killing me.”

“No other game combines the wonder of nature with the discipline of sport in such carefully planned ways. A great golf course both frees and challenges a golfer's mind.”

“I always could putt. Part of my makeup, I always could putt.”

“I love the way the game of golf is lived and played in Scotland. I always have.”

“The beautiful thing about the game of golf is you can play good golf and compete well into your later years, and you can't do this in basketball or football or baseball. But in golf, it's a longer live sport.”

“My career was one of just taking it step by step. I didn't know how I was gonna fare on the professional circuit when I qualified. I didn't know whether I was gonna make a dime. I didn't know anything but this one thing: I had some dreams, and I was gonna work harder than anybody out here to ply my trade.”

“I didn't learn how to swing a golf club until late in my career. And even though I won all those tournaments, I still struggled with consistency, and I relied on my strengths, which were hitting the ball long and high, and I could chip and putt with the best of 'em.”

“I'd rather fight 100 structure fires than a wildfire. With a structure fire you know where your flames are, but in the woods it can move anywhere; it can come right up behind you.”

“I played team sport as a kid and loved it. I played basketball and football throughout high school into college in the intramurals and I loved it. There was nothing like a team.”

“I have a special feeling for Blue Hills CC, where I won perhaps the most important tournament of my life when I was 14 - the Kansas City Match Play Championship. It gave me a dream of becoming a professional golfer.”

“A lot of guys who have never choked have never been in the position to do so.”

“I hope that I've been able to treat people with the respect they've shown me. That's basically the tenet you try to live by. I haven't been successful at it all my life, but that's what I strive for.”

“From the time I won the Kansas City Match Play championship at age 14, I never wanted to be anything but a golfer.”

“The golf swing is a violent swing. You twist, and your spine is under continual stress when you're making a golf swing. Your neck, your spine, your hands, your knees, everything.”

“I'm very happy with my life. I am what I am. I don't worry about anything that I can't control. That's a really good lesson in life.”

“My favorite meal has always been fried chicken.”

“I guess I have never been much of a complainer. You just take what is given you, and don't complain about what you can't affect.”