Tom Watson

No-one at Monifieth Golf Links paid much notice when the freckle-faced American kid pitched up at their course on Sunday, July 6, 1975, seeking a practice round ahead the 1975 Open at Carnoustie.

The golfer himself wasn’t hugely enamoured when he teed up on the first hole and promptly lost his ball. Or so he thought. In fact, after dropping a second ball on the fairway, he then discovered the original ball in a small pot bunker 40 yards from where he expected to find it.

“Right then, I didn’t like this form of golf,” admitted Tom Watson. “It took me another four years for the penny to finally drop and from that moment I loved links golf.”

 Fast-forward 36 years and five Claret Jugs later, and the same golfer returned to that very same spot and, in front of around 300 Monifieth members, re-enacted that original tee shot.

This time around, however, Watson was a VIP guest as he received Honorary Life Membership from Bill Miller, the only other man to receive that huge honour.

The Monifieth Links Chairman, helped the five-time Open Champion to embed a special plaque in the first tee to commemorate that less than auspicious tee shot from 1975.

Watson then regaled his eager audience with that tale of his first visit to Monifieth, while Miller warned the American: “You’ll still need to go into the ballot for a tee time like the rest of us – but at least you won’t have to pay the green fee!”