Then there’s Greg Norman, who served as inspiration for Watson’s run at Turnberry. Last year at Royal Birkdale, Norman held the 54-hole lead in the Open Championship before falling to Padraig Harrington. The two men, both winners of the Open Championship at Turnberry in previous editions (Norman in 1986, Watson in ’77) dined together on the Monday prior to this year’s event and talked about being competitive against the young guns.

“We still believe in ourselves and our ability to play certain places, and I think that’s what you saw with Tom, and with what I tried to do last year,” Norman said. “We both physically can still play the game at a high level, but it’s about staying young in the mind more than anything, and there are several guys now who can still compete with anybody in the world on a given week.”

Asked if he thought that he and Watson had earned greater respect for the denizens of the Champions Tour, Norman said: “I would hope so.I would hope it’s the younger generation sitting up and taking stock of the fact that if you are playing golf in your early 20s, you still got another 30-plus years of golf ahead of you. So just be patient and keep on your game plan and keep working at it. The game of golf will take it away from you but also give it back to you over a long period of time.”

Fairways & Waterviews