Former champion Watson offers glimpse of bygone era

By Tony Jimenez

SOUTHPORT (Reuters) - Tom Watson, who won the last of his five British Opens at Royal Birkdale 25 years ago, proved he can still occasionally compete with the younger generation in the British Open first round on Thursday.

The 58-year-old American shrugged off gusting winds and driving rain to fire three birdies in a four-over-par 74, the same score as champion Padraig Harrington.

"This is comparable to the first day at Muirfield in 1980," Watson told reporters. "We had strong winds and rain and I remember shooting 68 that day to tie Lee Trevino.

"That was one of my best scores ever in championship golf. I would say par today must have been about 74."

While the galleries always love to see Watson back in Britain, he said he had no desire to reminisce.

"I am still playing competitive golf and doing the best I can," he said. "I will save the memories for later.

"A bogey on a lot of these holes is a good score. I have plenty of experience of Open championship courses but in conditions like this you have to judge the wind right and I did that today."

Watson said he had been desperate to put the seal on a fine round by parring the 473-yard, par-four 18th.

"The one thing I wanted to do was make par on the last," the eight-times major winner said. "I struggled with a bad tee shot, then hit a pretty good one out of the rough.

"My pitch was then what I wanted and I holed a good putt for par."

(Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)