Tom Watson’s bid to become the oldest player to win the Open Championship was brought to a crashing end at Turnberry yesterday when the 59-year-old was heavily beaten in a four-hole play-off by Stewart Cink, his fellow American.

It was a bitterly disappointing finish for the five-times Open champion, who had an eight-foot putt for victory on the last hole of regulation play and did not even threaten the hole. His embarrassed smile said it all. His chance to make history had gone.

It is 32 years since Watson won the Open at Turnberry in what was dubbed the “Duel in the Sun” with Jack Nicklaus, his great rival. But even that achievement would have paled into insignificance had he succeeded in rewriting the record books on the beautiful Ayrshire links.

Watson had played miraculous, intelligent golf for almost the whole four days, but came up short when it mattered most. His approach to the final green looked perfect, but it ran long, finished in fluffy rough and suddenly presented him with a problem.

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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To chip or to putt? He chose to putt, but misjudged its strength and cringed inside when he left himself with the sort of return putt that has caused him agonies of uncertainty in recent years. And no wonder.

By the time he was being ferried out to the 5th hole for the start of the play-off, Watson’s bubble had been burst. He did not feel fatigued, he said, but he was so deflated that Cink, 23 years his junior, was able to simply squeeze the life out of him.

The eventual champion opened a lead of four shots by the time he had reached the last of the play-off holes — from his own good play as well as from Watson’s dramatic loss of form — and was able to enjoy his walk to the 18th green and the claret jug that was awaiting him. It was the American Ryder Cup player’s first win in a major championship in 14 years as a professional and brought him £750,000 in the process.

Watson was in philosophical mood. “This ain’t a funeral, you know,” he said. “It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn’t it? But it was not to be. And yes, it’s a great disappointment. It tugs at my gut and is not easy to take.

“The play-off was just one bad shot after another and Stewart did what he had to do to win. I didn’t give him much competition.”

It would be true to say that Cink came up on the rails when least expected. For most of the fourth round, it had looked as if Lee Westwood, or even Ross Fisher, could become the first Briton since Paul Lawrie in 1999 to win the Open.

Westwood had played solid, sensible golf and led for much of the round. A par at the final hole would have got him into the play-off, but he let it slip. He did the hard work by finding the green with an excellent shot from a fairway bunker, but proceeded to take three putts and waved goodbye to another chance in a major championship. In 2008, he had a putt to get into a play-off at the US Open and missed and, yesterday, he did it again.

A delighted Cink said: “I’m filled with pride at what I’ve done. Having outlasted this field, this golf championship is something I shall never forget. It would come down to me versus him in a play-off, wouldn’t it?”