The Open: This is not a ceremony, I’m trying to compete, says Watson

The 65-year-old has won the Open Championship five times and is expecting to bid an emotional farewell at St Andrews this week.

Watson concedes he can no longer hold his own against the world’s best and that realisation has also prompted him to end his playing association at Augusta National, where he has won twice, after 2016.

The American said: “Next year’s Masters is going to be my last Masters. I am not going to play any more after that. Even though I will be eligible to play, I won’t play.

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“The golf course is too big for me, and with my declining skills and length, I won’t be playing that.

“As I said a few weeks ago, the toolbox is kind of half empty with the tools I used to be able to play good golf. Those tools are missing right now or pretty rusty – rusty like me. That’s kind of where I am.”

Watson’s eligibility to play in the Open runs out after this year. Unlike at the Masters, the Open has has an age cap of 60 on past champions. Watson overrode that by securing an extra five years with his remarkable runner-up finish at Turnberry in 2009, and the Royal and Ancient then used discretion as organiser to offer an extra year.

That allowed Watson to make his final Open appearance at the ‘Home of Golf’ and on the 40th anniversary of his first victory at Carnoustie. There is a possibility that he could finish in the top 10 again and secure another five years’ exemption, but he concedes that is unlikely.

He said: “Now it’s time for my final Open Championship here at St Andrews. This will be it. I don’t expect to end up in the top 10.

“It would be nice if I ended up in the top 10, to be able to extend five more years, but I don’t foresee that, although I’m playing pretty well.

“I kind of just hope that I make it to Sunday. When you get to that position in your career, and you’re just hoping to make it to Sunday, then it’s really time to hang them up.

“I really don’t know how I’m going to feel, although I can start with some of the emotions.

“With my friends and family who are there, we’ve got a few housefuls of people coming over for my last Open.

“It’s going to be wonderful to have them around, and we’ll have a big party on Friday night. I hope that’s just in between the four rounds that I play.”

Watson’s five Open victories came in the space of nine years. None were at St Andrews, but the Old Course still holds a special place in his affections after he was narrowly beaten into second by Seve Ballesteros in 1984.

“The other part of it is the final walk over the Swilcan Bridge,” he said. “If it’s Friday, it’s Friday, and if it’s Sunday, it’s Sunday.

“I’ll be walking over the bridge with my son Michael on the bag, which will be a very special time, and I hope I’m fighting for the top 10 going across that bridge. That’s what I hope.”

Competitive fires still burn within Watson, who has won eight majors overall, and he insists he is not in the field to make up the numbers.

“I’ll challenge them,” said Watson. “I’m out here to compete in the Open Championship.

“I’ve prepared right, I’ve prepared properly. I’m doing some things right. I’ve got a game plan.

“I’ve never stopped competing that way, ever. It’s not a ceremony at all. I’m still trying to compete against these players out here.”