Tom Watson won his first of 5 British Open Championships in July of 1975 -- five months before Tiger Woods was born.
Watson, now 59 heads into the weekend tied for the lead with Steve Marino at five under par.
Watson fired an even par 70 today, which for me was even more impressive than his five-under 65 yesterday, because he started out the day like every other 59-year old golfer I know: he bogeyed five out of six holes on the front nine. But then the Stanford Ex turned it around and played the last ten holes in 4 under par.
At age 59, Watson would be the oldest winner of a major golf tournament by 11 years. Julius Boros was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA.
When Watson last won a Major, Mack Brown was a rookie head coach at Appalachian State. The year was 1983.
Meanwhile Tiger Woods missed the cut for only the second time in 49 career majors. Woods fired a 4 over 74 today to finish at +5. Most tournaments will take anyone within 10 shots of the lead going into the weekend, however the British Open makes its cut at the low 70 players, no matter how many strokes.
Woods had made 43 straight cuts, and had finished in the top ten in his last 17 tournaments before missing the cut in the British Open.
Steve Marino, the co-leader with Watson at the halfway point, wasn't expecting to play in the Open. He was a last minute qualifier and had to have his father FedEx his passport so he could hop on a special US players' charter flight on Monday.