For countless devotees of the season’s third major, the inevitable absence of Tom Watson from The Open Championship is a matter of significant regret. A five-time champion, who has dazzled the British galleries for four decades, most recently with his heart-breaking runner-up finish to Stewart Cink in 2009, Watson is revered in these isles.  

That particular endeavour came in what was scheduled to be the American’s penultimate appearance in golf’s oldest championship, after the R&A altered the age limit on the exemption for past winners. Prior to 2009, Open champions aged 65 or under were eligible to compete, but that was reduced to the age of 60 ahead of the championship’s return to Turnberry five years ago.

An understandable but essentially misguided decision, considering that the only player directly affected was Tom Watson – who would illustrate his continued competitiveness in almost-triumphant fashion.

Following Watson’s dramatic runner-up finish on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland, the R&A created a whole new exemption category, providing a five-year extension for any former winner finishing inside the top ten. Much like their initial alteration, Watson was the only player directly affected by this change.

It granted the Kansas native, and his devoted fans, an opportunity to savour each other’s presence for a few more years. Spectators at St. Andrews, Royal St. Georges, Royal Lytham and Muirfield followed this aging, but determined, champion as he continued to set records in becoming the oldest player to make the cut in the 154 year history of the event.

But they, and he, knew that this extended time together was coming to an end. This year’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, which is just two weeks away, would see the end of the 64-year-old’s tenure on the links.

But on Tuesday at the Greenbrier, where Watson serves as emeritus professional, the R&A announced that their greatest champion of the last 50 years would receive an extension to compete in the 144th Open Championship at St. Andrews next year.

This news brought a huge sigh of relief from his many followers, including your faithful correspondent, who had expected to be saying farewell to him at Hoylake this July.

Somehow, the Old Course, golf’s oldest and grandest stage, is more appropriate a venue for a champion of Watson’s calibre to bow out of a Championship that he made his own.

“I am very proud and honoured to be given this opportunity to play once again in St. Andrews next year. It is a special place for everyone in golf, and I am very much looking forward to playing there again in front of the wonderful Scottish galleries,” said Watson, who finished runner-up at the Old Course in 1984.

Watson has long had a warm relationship with the people of Scotland, where he won four of his Open titles. Having been initially distrusting of the merits of links golf in his initial visits, his appreciation for the purest form of the game has grown to the extent that he is now a connoisseur of seaside golf.

Winning the Championship on his debut at Carnoustie in 1975, the Scottish public would quickly appreciate the abilities of this gutsy competitor. This mutual affection would be no better displayed than it was at Royal Troon in 1982, where a victorious Watson held a ‘Scotland the Brave’ scarf above his head.

It is only fitting, therefore, that Watson will have his final curtain call in Scotland, particularly at St. Andrews, where both Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus bowed out. Watson’s own farewell will come exactly ten years after he partnered Nicklaus, his friend and once great rival, as the Golden Bear completed the last rounds of his career on the Old Course.

The legendary course also serves as an example of the development in Watson’s increasing appreciation for links golf throughout the years. He said in 2010, when competing in 150th anniversary Open at St. Andrews:  “When I first played here (St. Andrews) I didn't like it. I didn't like the blindness of the golf course and the bumps and the humps and the way it bounced. I learned to like it and eventually to love it.”

He will walk across the iconic Swilcan Bridge one last time, and wave goodbye just like Arnie and Jack did. There will be a lot of emotion, not least from the crowd who will follow him around for one last time in an Open.

It is something that many will relish, and the R&A are to be commended for granting us this one last opportunity.

“The Open Championship is unlike any other event in golf, and to be part of its history is a privilege,” Watson added.

Your part in its history has been truly a privilege to witness, Tom.