With people showering congratulations on him from every quarter, Des Smyth's thoughts were dominated by pride in his craft. "I can still play," he said quietly, after a closing round of 71 secured him a share of 13th place on 280 for a reward of £40,063 sterling.
At 48, he had come through final qualifying with a course-record 64 on St Annes Links last Monday; carded a best-of-the-day 65 in the second round on Friday and then achieved his goal of exemption into Muirfield next year. And along the way, he was even accorded royal patronage, when Prince Andrew joined his third-round gallery for the eighth and ninth holes on Saturday.
"I'm thrilled - there's great memories in this," he went on, as his wife Vicki, son Shane and close friend, John Gleeson of Milltown GC, stood closeby. "I've done everything I set out to do. I would have had to cover the front nine today in five under par to have a chance of the title, and that never really looked on."
His assessment of still being able to play the game was viewed as a serious understatement by the many admirers. "He reminds me a lot of Don Meredith, the legendary quarter-back of the Dallas Cowboys," said veteran US golf writer Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal.
As it happened, Smyth couldn't have wished for a more suitable, final-round playing partner than 37-year-old Billy Andrade, in that they once soldiered together on the European Tour. And a close bond was evident as the pair walked up the 18th.
Having hit his approach to the final green, Smyth broke into a gentle jog to catch up with the American, who put his arm over the Irishman's shoulder. They then doffed their headwear to the cheering galleries and walked the rest of the way together.
After a third round 70 had left him tied 14th overnight, Smyth had the set-back of an early bogey from a pushed tee-shot into a greenside bunker at the short fifth. But he immediately responded with a two-putt birdie at the next, a and he birdied the short ninth for a second successive day, this time from eight feet.
From there, he covered the remaining holes in one over, his only costly error coming at the 14th where he pulled his drive into a horrible lie in the rough. "I never got any putts," he said. "That was the only real difference between today and Friday's 65."
But it remained a very special occasion, not only for this native of Mornington, but also for his 54-year-old Dublin caddie, Ray Latchford. Though they have been together now for seven years, Latchford actually first caddied for him as far back as 1973, in the Home International Amateur Championship here at Lytham. "I was on a week's holiday at the time, and I came over just to look at the golf," he said.
Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington was disappointed with a rather tame 71 for an aggregate of 286 and £16,300 for a share of 37th. "I played 26 holes really well - 18 on Friday (when he shot 66) and the last eight today," he said afterwards. "Otherwise, my game was fine but I made too many mental errors."
Looking towards this week's Dutch Open, those closing holes are certain to give him a lift. He birdied the 11th (on in two), 12th (from 12 feet), 16th (six-footer) and 18th (another six-footer), while his only slip was on the 17th where he had a five after driving into a bunker.
But it was a bleak day for Paul McGinley, who ended with a 76 for 289. "I played poorly all week but this was probably my worst performance all year," he said dispiritedly.
