Watson aims to regain form at Toshiba

There are no more sleepless nights for Tom Watson. The pain is gone.

Now he’s just expecting (or is it hoping?) for the moment when he becomes tournament-ready, five months after having hip replacement surgery. Maybe it will come in the 15th annual Toshiba Classic that starts today at Newport Beach Country Club. But then again, maybe it won’t.

Whatever the case, Watson, 60, who has 39 PGA Tour wins and another 12 on the Champions Tour, is relieved to know the agony from his hip has left him.

In the past, the ache in his hip would keeping from sleeping at night.

“I would wake up with pain,” Watson said. “The pain would keep me awake. It was hard. Any time I moved the wrong way or slept on my back it was not very good. Instead of taking more Advil and Aleve, I said, ‘Heck with that, and save my liver and get [the surgery] done.’ ”

Watson had known surgery was inevitable. Over the years, while winning on the Champions Tour, his doctors would tell him that he would need surgery as the hip drew more pain and became tighter.

Then came the sleepless nights. In early October he had had enough.

Now he’s just looking to regain his confidence. There’s a really good chance it can happen here.

After all the World Golf Hall of Famer does quite well in California. He is one of two golfers, the other being Tom Kite, to have claimed 10 tour victories in this state.

Watson won nine times on the PGA Tour in California, yet his only Champions Tour win in the state came at the 2005 Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma.

Last year he won the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, but that was in Florida. Still he is assured that he is plenty capable of regaining his form. He just doesn’t know when it will come.

At this time he is having trouble with his short game. Instead he is envious of Ben Crenshaw, he said. Crenshaw was showing near-perfect form in sinking 20-foot putts on the practice greens Wednesday, Watson said.

Watson worked on his putting for about two and half hours. He has a feeling it will come in handy this weekend. If anything he knows that will be the key to regaining his game.

“Confidence in my putting stroke, bottom line,” Watson said of what will it take to become tournament-ready once again. “Right now, I don’t have enough confidence in my putting stroke. That’s absolutely when you get up there to putt and you’re thinking about missing it rather than making your shot, you’re done. Toast. Stick a fork in you.”

If Watson is able to get that confidence in his putting, he’ll be in line to go back to winning. The hip surgery, he said, has actually allowed him to gain more free motion on his hip when it goes through impact.

“If I want to make it if I can turn the hip a little bit more, it feels a little loose down there,” he said. “Some parts are a little loose, even though I feel no pain.

“... Now there’s just no repercussions at all from the operation five months later, and I’m very grateful for that. I can sleep at night.”

Watson is hoping he can go to sleep Sunday with a Toshiba championship.

STEVE VIRGEN may be reached at (714) 966-4616 or by e-mail at steve.virgen@latimes.com.