Watson's run shows golf is growing -- in all directions

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The beauty of modern golf is that it no longer discriminates based on age -- or height for that matter.

There had been talk, and it grew louder on the weekend, that a victory by 59-year-old Tom Watson at the 138th British Open would have been bad for golf.

A guy is supposed to shoot in the 60s, not almost be in his 60s, to win one of golf's four majors ... or so the reasoning went. If an "old fogey," as Watson described himself, could lift a Claret Jug, there was a belief that it wouldn't reflect well on the state of the game.

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Are you kidding me?

To say that a Watson victory at Turnberry would have been detrimental to the sport is like saying Tiger Woods has been bad for golf because he generates too much publicity for Nike.

We're missing the point here: Having a Hall of Famer more than a generation past his prime almost winning a major two months before his 60th birthday is one of the beauties of this sport. The only ones who seem to care about the age of a golfer are, well, other golfers.

Had Watson parred the 72nd hole Sunday (or eventual champion Stewart Cink not birdied it) to win his sixth British Open, the effect on the game would have been immediate. The Royal & Ancient would have quickly re-evaluated its decision to lower its age limit to past champions to 60 because Watson would have earned an exemption through age 64.

No doubt Watson benefited from the experience of having won five previous British Opens, including the epic "Duel in the Sun" victory against Jack Nicklaus in the '77 Open at Turnberry. But also remember this: For all of Watson's brilliance last week, he took 10 more shots to complete his 72 holes than he did in '77.

Watson is just the latest to prove that age, like a golfer's score each day, is simply a number. The golf ball, as the saying goes, doesn't know how old the person is who is striking it. Neither does the golf course.

Sam Snead was considered by many to have the greatest longevity in professional golf, winning 17 times on the PGA TOUR in his 40s. That's a record few thought would be challenged, until recently.

Now Snead doesn't even have the mark for most PGA TOUR victories in his 40s; that belongs to Vijay Singh, with 22. Singh, 46, isn't the only top golfer to improve as his birth certificate yellows.

Kenny Perry, 48, has won 11 times since turning 40, with five of those titles coming in the last two seasons. Now with 14 PGA TOUR career wins, Perry believes he has enough left to reach 20 before he heads off to the Champions Tour.

The only other golfer to win more PGA TOUR titles during that span? That would be Tiger Woods, a mere pup at 33, with six "Ws."

How about Fred Funk winning THE PLAYERS when he was 48? And then winning the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun two years later?

You can trace these developments to bigger purses and the advent of the Champions Tour that keeps players motivated through their late 40s, as well as improvements in fitness and golf equipment technology.

But through the science of biophysics, golfers are more capable of finding a swing that fits their body type. Careers are lasting longer because bodies aren't breaking down as fast from years of swinging a club.

Take Watson's name out of the discussion, and something else unusual happened at Turnberry: The top of the leaderboard resembled a basketball game. Cink is 6-foot-4 and third-place finisher Chris Wood of England is 6-foot-5 -- squashing the belief that height is a detriment in golf, even with the wind whipping around Turnberry during the weekend.

Golf, after all, is supposed to be a sport for smaller men. (At 6-1, Woods is the tallest among the six players to have won at least eight professional major titles.)

Just as golf is becoming a game for taller men, it no longer discriminates against old age. And that is one of the most appealing aspects of this sport.

Football players are lucky to still be in a huddle when they reach 30. Most boxers don't make it that long. It's rare you see an NBA player running up and down the court in his 40s. Careers in Major League Baseball can last longer, but lately you wonder if there are certain, uh, medications that enable the older players to hang on.

Golf is the only sport that's getting younger -- 16-year-old Matteo Manassero was low amateur and 13th overall, while Wood is just 21 -- and older at the same time.

I guarantee this: Someday, a guy in his 60s will win a major championship. It could be Woods at the 2036 Masters or Wood at the 2050 British Open at St. Andrews.

We, after all, came within one unlucky bounce and two months of it happening last Sunday.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.