WATCH: Tom Watson is still striking them as pure as ever at 74

Former Open champion Tom Watson can still flush it off the tee at 74.

Maybe it shouldn’t surprise us considering he came so close to winning the Open for a sixth time aged 59.

Watson is still doing everything right on the tee.

His game always was suited to the links and he hasn’t lost his mastery.

Even while playing in blustery conditions at Prestwick.

Watson stands out as one of the great figures in the game of golf with his eight Majors, 39 PGA Tour wins, 14 additional wins worldwide, and 14 wins on the Champions Tour, six of them Majors.

He was the PGA Tour Player of the Year six times and the leading money winner in five seasons. Waston won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest-scoring average on tour three times and won the season-long Schwab Cup race on the Champions Tour twice.

He is the only man in history to shoot at least one round of 67 or better in all four majors in four decades. He also made at least one cut on tour – even after cutting back to a limited schedule in 1999 – for 37 straight years (1971-2007). In 2015, he became the oldest man to break par in a round at the Masters and shot 65-67 in the last two rounds of the First Tee Challenge at Pebble Beach that September, averaging shooting his age for 36 holes.

That is to say that his legacy has been enduring success and consistency.

These days he lives on his 400-acre farm outside of Kansas City with his wife Hilary but still gets a round in as often as he can.