Without Tom Watson, this would have been the Open Championship of empty seats. The one which got in the way of the Ashes. The tournament more low-key than a double bass.

Without Watson, it would have been the Open notable for the guy who went home two days early. Or yet another near-miss by an Englishman.

Without Watson it might have been one of the least remembered of the 138 championships rather than what it became, which is one of the most remarkable.

This had been a strangely subdued few days on this isolated stretch of Ayrshire coast. It had been an oddly shapeless golfing year, lacking stardust and sparkle, and became even more so when Tiger Woods missed the cut.

Times Archive 1977 Duel in the sun

Tom Watson beats Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry in thrilling climax to the Open

• Budding champion with time to flower, 1975

• Watson's joy at Price freeze, 1982

• Watson's five-pointed star in ascendent, 1983

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One man made it unforgettable, joyous, uplifting — and, with all respect, due apologies, etc, we are not talking about the victor, Stewart Cink.

Watson transformed a tournament from small beginnings into something huge; provoking debates about the nature of golf, the nature of sport, about age and possibilities.

The 59-year-old with the artificial hip may have felt every one of those years by the end of a play-off which brought huge, one-sided disappointment.

But, for a glorious afternoon bathed in bright sunshine, Watson made everyone else feel giddily young.

“It would have been a hell of a story,” he said afterwards. Would have been? Still was, Tom. Still was.

They say you never remember who finished second. Well, occasionally in golf they do it different.

Everyone recalls Jean Van de Velde, the eccentric Frenchman who blew the Open ten years earlier even more spectacularly than Watson screwed up on the 18th yesterday.

And they will always remember the performance of the man from Kansas City, Missouri.