Tom Watson is no stranger to success on links golf courses.  He’s a perennial contender and former champ at the British Senior Open.  But at age 59, his remarkable run against much younger players at Turnberry this week brings one of the game’s greats back into the spotlight.

Watson won five British Open titles during his prime years on the PGA Tour, plus two Masters and one US Open.  He’s never won the PGA, but on Saturday, he passed Jack Nicklaus for most times leading a major championship after 54 holes.

Collectors haven’t quite jumped on the Watson bandwagon, although there has been a bit of an uptick the last couple of days on eBay.  Watson’s ‘rookie card’, the 1981 Donruss issue, is #1 in the set and subject to some corner wear and scuffing.  Still, it can be bought for less than $20 in nice shape.  Watson autographs are usually less than $50.  He’s a bit underappreciated when you consider his amazing career, one that has labeled him a stellar player still at just 2 months shy of his 60th birthday. At last check, there were fewer than 200 Tom Watson items on eBay.

Watson’s last spotlight moment in a major came six years ago when he led the US Open after one round, not long before his long-time caddy and friend Bruce Edwards died of Lou Gehrig’s disease.  But for those who thought that was his last hurrah, the soft-spoken Missourian can point to his scorecard this week and say ‘not so fast’.

It’s not really his “rookie” card since Tiger Woods had already been playing on the Tour for 5 years when  the 2001 Upper Deck SP Authentic golf cards came out, but it was UD’s first swing at the sport. Owning the rights to market Tiger Woods autographs didn’t hurt Upper Deck’s position in the market, either.

Now, the 2001 SP Authentic Tiger autographed card seems to be the gold standard online. Prices have dropped a bit from the pre-knee surgery days, but they’re still pricey. A PSA 10 SP Authentic Woods autographed card recently sold for $4000 on eBay. The same card was selling quite a bit higher last year. A PSA 9 went for $2885 and a BGS 9 for $2650, leaving the obvious impression that the ‘gem mint’ cards are being purchased strictly for their investment potential as the ultra-rare best of the best. In fact, it’s likely those who are buying the ‘9’s are also sticking them away in hopes of selling just after whatever milestone Tiger reaches next.

Average collectors can find them for less than $2000 ungraded or in lower professional grades. It’s the autograph, of course, that drives the price up. It’s not enough anymore to collect ‘rookie cards’ unless they’re autographed. At least that’s the mentality of the modern era collector. Kind of sad, but you have to admit the cards are pretty sharp.

Kind of surprising to see over 2400 golf trading cards on eBay right now.

Golf continues to slide high tech for even the average player.

If you play…and you’ve got an iPhone… this might be something to check out.

Shotzoom Software just announced the release of Golfshot: Golf GPS rangefinder, available on Apple’s App store for iPhone 3G and 3G S.   Golfshot: Golf GPS allows golfers to touch any point on a golf hole to receive distances to and from that point.

According to the company, the golfing community has already embraced the Golfshot Scorecard Application, with user reviews praising its “perfect balance of features and usability.” Golfshot: Golf GPS builds on the easy-to-use interface, tour quality statistics, and scorecard share and compare functionality currently available in Golfshot. The GPS capabilities quickly give users a multitude of vantage points and course-specific information, including:

“The GPS capabilities in Golfshot: Golf GPS exceed what is available on most stand-alone golf range finder hardware, but at a fraction of the cost,” explained Laura Khailany, Vice President of Shotzoom Software. “In this economy, saving up to $400 on a golf GPS range finder is an exceptional value,” Khailany added.

Golfshot: Golf GPS has over 15,000 courses available worldwide. Golfers can search for their courses at www.golfshot.com/courses and can request additional courses for free.

The company says the app was “designed by golfers with an eye for simplicity and ease-of-use”.  The Golfshot GPS application is priced well below competitive stand-alone golf GPS products and is available in the iTunes App Store, or at www.tinyurl.com/golfshotgps.

Ever check the bid leaderboard outside the clubhouse? No matter if it’s a major PGA Tour event or your club championship, you can see scores posted hole-by-hole, round-by-round when volunteers get out their magic markers and posterboard.

At this year’s U.S. Open, they became golf memorabilia. The individual player sheets and round-by-round leaderboards were sold in a fundraising auction for the Metropolitan Golf Association Foundation and the Long Island Caddie Scholarship Fund.

Two of the scorecard strips sold for over $1000. The line chronicling champion Lucas Glover’s tournament brought $2510. Tiger Woods’ scoresheets sold for $1125, while the numbers for Phil Mickelson brought $550. For those seeking something unique, it was sort of a bargain. Many of the cards for players familiar to golf fans were purchased for $150 or less and some didn’t sell at all. The auction sort of flew under the radar, with only CNBC’s blog giving it much attention.

Here are the U.S. Open scoreboard auction results.