Back of the net: The shot that won the Open

Ballesteros, playing one ahead of Watson, but locked with the defending champion at 11 under par, was first on to the infamous hole and, with a breathtaking 6-iron from the rough, landed on the top side of the green, two putts away from the par which had eluded him on his three previous visits to the hole. He would happily have settled for his 4 but, as it later transpired, Ballesteros felt that his first putt might be good enough to get the birdie.

Watson, though still briskly efficient in all that he did, had lost Saturday's wondrous touch on the greens. Like Ballesteros he had played the seventeenth in level 5s during the championship. His drive, bolder by far than the Spaniard's, had soared over the sheds, shaving the dangers throughout and had landed on the fairway, giving him an uninterrupted view to the green. But - so untypical of the man - Watson was uncertain about his choice of club. He eventually decided on a 2-iron, which was wildly overhit and came to rest two feet from the wall.

He got his third as close as could be expected from such a hopeless position but not close enough. As he walked across to survey the putt, the explosion of noise from the eighteenth which greeted Ballesteros's 3 told him that the record books would have to remain unaltered for the present. He had come desperately close to equalling Harry Vardon's record of six Open championships and being the first to win on all five Scottish Championship courses.

But no worthier champion has crossed the Swilcan on that triumphant procession up the eighteenth than Ballesteros. His final round 69 gave him a four-round aggregate of 276, the lowest at St Andrews, beating by two strokes Kel Nagle's four-round total in the Centenary Open 24 years ago.

Of those who have won the Open more than once since the First World War, incidentally, only Gary Player has had to wait longer for his second victory, Ballesteros having last won at Royal Lytham in 1979.

The Spaniard began the day two strokes behind Watson and Baker-Finch, who was consumed by the occasion and finished with a final round 79.At the eighth, where Ballesteros got his second birdie of the round, he took the lead for the first time in the championship, but lost it three holes later when, almost simultaneously, he mis-hit his tee shot at the eleventh and Watson holed for a birdie at the tenth.

Bernhard Langer meanwhile had been giving himself countless opportunities, but on the front nine missed no fewer than five putts within ten feet of the hole. He missed several more on the return journey but from tee to green no-one has played better during the championship.

The German played the closing holes impeccably, his birdie at the last being the most valuable of the lot and giving him a share of second place with Watson. It is the second time that Langer has been runner-up to the Open champion. He finished second to Bill Rogers at Sandwich three years ago. Then he was four strokes behind but at St Andrews he was seriously in contention from the start to the finish.

It was a tribute to Langer's status in world golf that, before he teed off yesterday, Ballesteros told his caddie: "First we must beat Langer - then we go after Watson."

Ballesteros, unlike Watson, was at peace with his putter. His judgment of speed and distance could hardly be faulted, and this more than anything helped him to overcome a minor crisis after the turn when he bagged the eleventh and lost a little of his momentum. But he regained his composure at the fourteenth when he smote a gigantic drive over the Beardies and holed from 15 feet for a birdie 4.

At the seventeenth, considered by him to be the hardest hole in the world, he drove for the fourth time in a row into the left rough. In the circumstances his 6-iron which carried the 200 yards to the back slope of the green was the most important of the four days. He had kept Saturday's promise, that he would par the hole before the championship ended.

When he sank his putt for a 3 at the eighteenth he instinctively knew that he had won although he was not aware of Watson's plight on the seventeenth until he reached the clubhouse.

Watson, outwardly assured, betrayed early signs of nervousness: "Why are you shaking, Alfie?" he asked his caddie on the first tee as if to relieve his own tension. He has never felt happy on the St Andrews greens this week.

The occasion certainly proved to be too much for Ian Baker-Finch, whose second shot at the first was spun back from the green into the burn. Thereafter his swing got progressively faster and his confidence lower and by the time that he had relaxed and got two birdies back from the carnage of five bogeys and two double-bogeys, he had long since disappeared from the leader board, and those who were following events through the eyes of the television cameras could, perhaps, have been forgiven for thinking that he had picked up his ball and walked off the course.But he stuck it out and his 79 gave him a share of ninth place along with, among others, Sam Torrance.

As so often happens on these occasions, the best scoring was achieved by those from whom the pressure of winning had been removed. Many, like Greg Norman, who had been knocked off their perch on Saturday, began a fresh assault yesterday. Others, like Sandy Lyle, produced their best round of the championship.

In the flat calm conditions which pertained in the early part of the day, Norman's touch returned and he repeated his opening round 67. Lyle and Graham Marsh also had 67s. Ken Brown and Fred Couples, an American of whom we shall hear more in the future, had 68s and Nick Faldo, Lanny Wadkins, Andy Bean and Ben Crenshaw, who holed in one at the eighth with a 5-iron, all had 69s.

But for my money and doubtless for Ballesteros himself, the shot of the championship was the 6-iron at the seventeenth..