78°
There are, of course, other parallels to Brett. They are two of the most essential and enduring athletics faces, personalities and performers in Kansas City sports history, coming of age in virtual tandem in the mid-1970s.
Brett made his major-league debut 40 years ago this summer. Watson won his first PGA Tour title at the 1974 Western Open.
The difference:
After an eternal (by baseball standards) and Hall of Fame career, Brett retired in 1993; Watson has kept going and going and going, uniquely representing Kansas City with memorable triumphs and his boundless grace through decades of sparse professional team performances to be proud of.
Watson shrugs, a bit sheepishly, when asked about that place on the scene. He simply says, "I just do what I do," then adds, "I'm a homer, I love Kansas City, I love our teams, and I want them to be successful. We've had such a long dry run, with the exception of Sporting KC, just way too long a dry run.
"But it looks as if (the Royals and Chiefs) have done something really constructive this year."
As he's been doing all along: He owns 39 PGA Tour victories and eight on the PGA European Tour and 14 on the Champions tour since 1999.
As recently as 2009, he had a bead on his sixth British Open championship only to overshoot on the 72nd hole and fall to Stewart Cink in the playoff.
"The one thing that came out of it," Watson said, "is that I (had) so many people writing me, e-mailing me, saying, 'Tom, I was giving up on myself. . . . I wasn't going to do something in my life that I just didn't feel like I could do any more because I was too old. You've given me the inspiration to go get motivated and do it again. Because if you can do it, I can do it.' "
He continues to inspire people now, of course, as a statesman and a competitor who just might again find the consistency he craves.
But one day before too long, these things will be a legacy, not an ongoing competitive demonstration.
Cherish it now and until then, because this year might be the beginning of the end.
"It's reality," Watson said. "I'm a realist."
U.S. SENIOR OPEN
WHEN: Starts Thursday
WHERE: Omaha Country Club
TV: 3 p.m. ESPN2
BY THE NUMBERS
8 PGA major championships: five British Opens, two Masters, one U.S. Open
39 PGA tournament wins
14 Champions Tour wins
606 PGA events played
164 Champions Tour events played
RSS
My Yahoo