Tom Watson shelters under an umbrella from the rain on the 12th fairway, during the third round of the British Open golf championship at Royal St George's in Sandwich, southern England July 16, 2011.
“There's an old saying, 'swing with ease into the breeze.' Well, a lot of times you can see these young kids out there trying to hit it really hard into the wind,” Watson said. “That doesn't flight the ball very well.”
“Hitting low stingers, things like that, you don't have to hit it that hard. You can just flight it by swinging it a little bit easier, and that will take the height off the ball. In my case I can't hit it hard. I'm 61 years old.
“I can't swing hard, so the ball is flighted naturally. So it's good in conditions like this.”
Watson also refused to allow himself to become resigned to a poor round as the foul weather bedraggled the field, saying he had experienced worse conditions twice before.
“In Muirfield in 2002, the conditions were much worse than this,” he said.
“The worst I've ever played in the Open Championship was at Muirfield in '80 the first round,” he recalled.
“Conditions are bothersome, but you just try to do the best you can to keep your grips dry and your wits about you and go about your business to try to make pars out there,” he said.
“Par is a great score out there obviously. But it's a struggle.”
Watson was guarded about his chances of competing for the title.
“Four over par right now is eight shots behind the lead, so we'll just have to see what happens today and how the leaders fare,” he said.
