Tom Watson – six weeks short of his 60th birthday – got within a single putt of victory in the Open Championship on Sunday. To the consternation of the Phyllosan, Viagra and afternoon-nap generation, and to romantics everywhere ... he fluffed it.

Forced into a four-hole play-off, Watson’s astounding run finally hit the buffers. Or to be more precise, Turnberry’s vicious bunkers and rough.