Watson around for the weekend at Harbour Town

Tom Watson knew what was at stake as he stepped onto the tee at the 18th hole on Friday.

Make birdie. Make the cut. That was his thought process. And like so many times in his legendary career, Watson came through, converting a 4-footer for birdie for a second-round 70 to make the cut on the number at the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

“I creamed the drive at 18 and I hit a great 8-iron, and I snuck the putt in," Watson said. "I'm not putting very well, but I snuck it in.  And it looks like I'm going to be here during the weekend, which is pretty good for an old guy like me.”

Watson made the cut at the age of 65 years, 7 months, 13 days. Sam Snead is the oldest player to make a PGA TOUR cut at 67 years, 2 months, 21 days.

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It’s Watson’s first made cut on the PGA TOUR this season. He carded a first-round 71 at the Masters Tournament but followed with an 81 to miss the weekend. He made two cuts last season – he tied for 35th at The Greenbrier Classic and also finished T51 at The Open Championship.

Watson is playing his 25th event at the RBC Heritage. He’s finished in the top 10 seven times, which includes wins in 1979 and 1982.

“I love the narrowness of it,” Watson said of Harbour Town. “The greens are very narrow.  They're the smallest greens we play on TOUR, when I was playing the TOUR.  And from the standpoint of left to right, you really have to be accurate with your iron play.  And when they get really firm, it's really a great test of golf.  And right now with no wind today, you saw a lot of low scores, but that's to be expected with the soft conditions.  We had rain a couple of days ago.  Yesterday we had wind and you had a lot of high scores yesterday.

“So this course is a great course to play because it does give up -- if you play well, it gives it up.”