Not only is Watson playing golf again, but he has a new partner, Dorothy, a widow who grew up in a small town north of Wichita, KS. Introduced by a mutual friend, they were married last October and now spend the winter months in Arizona.“ She loves golf and pickleball, is an expert cook, very intelligent with a great sense of humor,” says Watson, who now also plays pickleball.“ He’ s getting pretty good,” says Dorothy.
Tom Watson competed in 15 Watson Challenge’ s and won five. Only Andy Spencer has come close to as many wins with three wins in 2017, 2018 and 2021.
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At the Inaugural 2007 Watson Challenge at Hallbrook Country Club it came down to three playoff holes between Tom Waston, Sean Dougherty, and Blake Graham, an assistant pro at Hallbrook at the time. Graham prevailed and was named“ Kansas City’ s best golfer for 2007.”( Photo by Alan Hoskins)
This year’ s Watson Challenge returns to the venue where the event was first held in 2007— Watson didn’ t win.“ I got beat in a playoff. Blake Graham beat me on the second hole of the playoff with a birdie on a par five.” Sean Dougherty was a third member of the playoff but was eliminated on the first hole. While he did not win the first Challenge, it must be noted Watson won five of the next six.
Open to the public for a $ 25 donation, even without Watson competing, this year’ s Challenge will offer great golf over one of Kansas City’ s most spectacular courses.“ These kids can really tear up a golf course because of their distance,” says Watson.“ The golf swing today is better, and an easy factor in that is the cell phone. It’ s so easy. You can video yourself. There’ s stop action, the quality is good. You can analyze your swing yourself. I do it all the time.”
Unfortunately, Watson has no solution for my pet peeve— slow play.“ What’ s new? It’ s always been an issue,” he says. At the professional level, the AimPoint technique, in which a golfer straddles the putting line to line up putts, takes even more time. Heaven help us if it carries over to the amateur level, where rounds are stretched out far too long because of what is seen on TV.“ Absolutely,” says Watson.“ People watch the pros, and they copy what the pros do.” �
Qualifying for the Watson Challenge will be held at Shoal Creek Golf Course, Kansas City, MO, on May 14. Learn more about the 2025 Watson Challenge and get tickets at www. centrallinksgolf. org.
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