I had already nominated Tom Watson for the Sports Geezer of the Year, “geezer” being the word he used to describe himself as he was about to win the British Open.

I had already nominated the 59-year-old, on the verge of that unmatched achievement, to the Sun City Center Hall of Fame, when the telecasters, Andy North and Paul Azinger, agreed Watson’s impending British Open win would be judged the single sports achievement of the year.

I believed Tom Watson on Sunday, at the great Turnberry golf cathedral, had found a way to turn back time and was not 59 but 39 years old and was not going to blink, despite the charge of 36-year-old Stewart Cink to force him to the brink.

On the 72nd hole, readying to win a record sixth British Open and surely his last major championship, Watson blinked. He looked over his shoulder and missed a putt of 8 feet to force a four-hole playoff with the threatening Cink. That missed putt, that blink, was the turning of the screw. He pushed the putt to the right. He did not hit it with the same authority as he had been striking his shots all week to the delight of most who were pulling for him, notably the Brits. It is a good thing Cink had a wife and two boys in the gallery, his audience.

In such playoffs in the British Open, you play four holes, with the deciding factor the cumulative total.

Watson lost the playoff decisively, from the first hole to the final one. Cink beat Watson, the Tom Watson who dominated pro golf between Arnold Palmer/Jack Nicklaus and the Tiger Woods era. On the playoff holes, Watson was consistently in the awful rough at Turnberry. He looked tired, he played tired. From that pushed 72nd-hole green, announcers North and Azinger said he was very tired. Watson will soon be 60 and willl surely lose to Cink, they said.

Remember, Watson has won 66 golf tournaments, eight of them majors. He has won the Ryder Cup. He continues to win friends for himself, for the game and for his country. The Royal and Ancient St. Andrews Golf Course has made him an honorary member, along with Gene Sarazen, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and George Bush.

In the great Duel in the Sun, the 1977 British Open matching Nicklaus and Watson, Nicklau shot 66-66, Watson shot 65-66. In fact, in four of Watson’s eight championships, Nicklaus was runner-up. They are great friends. Nicklaus was on the telephone with the broadcasters during Watson’s match with Cink.

Lanny Watkins once said of Watson that he would never tolerate a weakness. He would go to the practice tee and beat it until the darn thing would go away. Watson said of himself, “I learned how to win by losing and not liking it.”

But Cink and Watson made it clear once more that you cannot win them all, particularly one of the truly great events, unless you are 59, you can still hit it a mile, conquer one of the world’s toughest golf courses, play against an opponent who is bigger, stronger and younger, and your name is Tom Watson.

Golf in America is fine again now that it was an All-American final in the British Open.