Watson just like one of our own

Let's adopt Tom Watson as a native son.

That would be legal even if he's 2 months short of his 60th birthday, right?

Seriously, with Watson threatening to win another British Open this afternoon, it's as good a time as any to at least proclaim him an honorary Chicagoan.

We don't have many prominent golfers to call our own. The best we can do is treat transplants like Luke Donald, Jeff Sluman and Chip Beck as if they grew up here.

So why not include Watson? He came out of nowhere to lead the Open after three rounds, and nowhere might as well be here.

Watson originally is from Kansas City. He attended Stanford University. Great Britain considers him a Brit.

Actually, like most world-class athletes he belongs to the entire globe.

Still, Watson was one of ours before becoming a star. He first played the Western Open in 1968 as an 18-year-old amateur at Olympia Fields. His first PGA Tour victory came at Butler National in 1974.

When Watson succeeded Jack Nicklaus atop golf - or at least joined him there - he remained a supporter of the Western Golf Association.

It was annoying that Nicklaus played the Western Open infrequently - only twice after 1970. I asked him why once, and he responded as if the question offended him.

Nicklaus said something like there were a lot of tournaments around the country and he couldn't play them all every year.

Funny, though, Tom Watson appreciated what the WGA did for both amateur and pro golf enough that from 1972 through 1997 he found time to play here every year but two.

The Western was contested at Butler National in Oak Brook most of those years and many PGA Tour players groused about the course.

They didn't like the fairways, bluegrass if I recall. They didn't like the swirling winds. They didn't like having to use young local caddies instead of their own.

They really didn't like that Butler was so difficult. Back in the 1970s the winning score could be above par.

The pros complained so much (and some quit coming here) that the WGA had to lighten up Butler.

Yet Watson would have kept coming regardless. He embraced the challenge and won three times at Butler, the first at a strenuous 3 over par.

Maybe prepping on Butler National is why Watson was able to win five times on those diabolic British Open courses and eight major championships overall.

Anyway, Watson has been one of the WGA's great friends over the decades, just as Tiger Woods has been by playing here nearly every year since becoming, well, Tiger Woods.

Watson seemed to enjoy Butler's challenges and later Cog Hill's. More than anything he admired the WGA's mission to provide scholarships for deserving local caddies while supporting amateur golf in the process.

Maybe that's why Tom Watson was as easy to approach, to talk to and to like as any of the pros who played here over the years.

For that alone we should adopt Tom Watson whether he wins the Open today or starts acting his age.

But I'm not ashamed to say I hope this active senior wins the bloody thing.

mimrem@dailyherald.com