What players are saying about Watson at Turnberry

TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) - Five-times champion Tom Watson, 59, stunned his peers by charging to the top of the leaderboard with a flawless five-under-par 65 in Thursday's opening round at the British Open.

His fellow competitors have been speaking about the veteran American's astonishing display in the third major of the year:

* American Ben Curtis, the 2003 British Open champion who matched Watson by shooting a 65. "I'm not surprised. He obviously can still hit it. He's a great ball striker and I think for him it's just a matter of how he putts. On a day like today he's probably licking his chops."

* Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who carded a 70 while playing in the company of Watson. "If Tom Watson plays the way he played today he can beat Tiger Woods and everyone else. He flashed it today. The only thing he could ask from Tiger was length but he hit some quality shots, as well as anyone."

* American Stewart Cink, after firing a six-birdie 66. "Experience plays a big part in low scoring. Watson, what can you say about his experience? It's second to very few. He is one of the best ball strikers of all time. He's knows the way around here and I'm not surprised to see him up here."

* Lee Westwood, who opened with a 68. "Tom's a classy player and he's quite capable of hitting it 280, 290 (yards) off the tee. He's obviously going to be competitive around here as he's shown this morning. He'll have had as much experience with links golf as anybody in this field, probably more than anybody."

(Compiled by Mark Lamport-Stokes, editing by Tony Jimenez.