'When I first played the Old Course I actually didn't like it all'

Going back to 1984 where you came so close, just two shots behind Seve and finished tied runner-up there. What are your memories of that experience?

That is the one that probably got away from me. I felt I had the game to win the Open Championship and I got myself into contention many times, not just once or twice.

St Andrews in 1984 was one of those times when I seem to remember that I outplayed Seve tee to green, but he outputted me, and in the end, he was two shots better than Tom Watson and I.

It was fun being part of that. It wasn’t fun missing a lot of the putts that I feel I could have made or should have made. But that’s golf. There’s 14 different clubs and you’ve got to be in command of all 14 of them and not just 13.

Bernhard Langer

Perhaps it was the one that got away, but you certainly made up for that in the senior ranks, haven’t you? It’s one that you clearly relish.

Yeah, very much so. I’d certainly feel it got away. I had a couple chances at Royal St. George’s and another second when David Duval won at Lytham. There were a number of chances where I with a little bit better putting or a couple of different breaks, or just better golf, I would be the Open champion, but it never happened.

But yeah, on the other hand, I won two Masters, which is kind of strange in a sense because if you don’t putt well there, you’re not going to win.

Are you a better player now at 60 than you were when you were 30?

I think there is certain part of my game that are actually better. I’m probably a better driver of the ball than I was in my younger days. I might be a better 3-wood player, as well, and the short game’s been pretty consistent. When I was younger I had times when the short game was really good and at times it wasn’t so good.

But, you know, as you mature and as you learn still more about the technique of how to play the game, the swing should become actually more repeatable, more steady because you’re not changing your swing every year and every few months, and I did that when I was younger. I was changing my swing from a reverse C technique to powering the ball more, and that took a period of several years, so you’re always in the process of trying to get better and get better and get better.

Now the last few years I’ve pretty much arrived with my swing with where I want to be at times.

In the younger days, I was constantly trying to improve certain parts of my backswing, at followthrough or impact, and it felt like there was change and change and more change, and so the last 10, 15 years, I’ve arrived where I feel I don’t have to make that many changes anymore.