Nostalgia had been thick in the air all week, what with Jack Nicklaus departing the Open Championship and Tiger Woods winning the thing - again.
But Nick Faldo, whose time was somewhere between the two principals, put in his pennyworth yesterday afternoon.
The three-times Open champion posted a last round 69 and finished the tournament a stirring six under par.
Talk about calling back departed skills!
St Andrews' 17th hole is the ruin of many a good man and many a good score. Faldo, with a huge putt, birdied it. And he got a two at the 18th. What a finish!
He didn't do that sort of thing in his prime. Faldo could remember making a birdie at the Road Hole only once before.
"I worked hard on the putt and I knew it would give me a lovely lift," he said.
"Then I came to the last. It's crazy how I looked at that putt from behind the hole and I thought, I fancy this one. I hadn't fancied a putt all week, to be honest.
"And I knocked it in, dead centre. Twenty-three yards. It doesn't make any sense but I'm chuffed. I've had a great week. It's been absolutely fantastic."
And it's his 48th birthday today.
Faldo eagled the 18th in the first round on his way to victory here in 1990 but admitted he had never finished birdie-eagle on the Old Course before.
"You kidding? That's as rare as a lobster thermidor!" he added. "You make a three on 17 once in a decade but three, two will never happen again in my life. I can guarantee that one.
"That was special, even I went mad. The crazy thing is as I walked behind the pin I thought 'I fancy this' and I haven't fancied a putt all week. I don't know how that happens.
"It's a beautiful birthday present, I think I'll have a bottle of bubbly on the plane."
Ian Poulter's 69, six under for the week, established this as his best finish in a major championship. He would be pleased, surely?
"Erm . . . nope. It might be my best finish in a major but I am not happy. It was a frustrating finish at the 17th when I played a pure golf shot after playing flawless golf all day. And the ball just didn't stop.
"Those pins were tough and if you're a foot out, you're punished and I've just three-putted the last.
"Everyone has said it's been a great week but it hasn't. I could have done a lot better."
Well . . ! He continued his train of thought: "I'm working on my game and heading in the right direction. I'm getting better. But I need to be hard on myself and I should be winning these tournaments right now."
Even against Tiger Woods?
"I'm good enough, so there's no reason why I can't. I'm not happy."
