Martin Dempster: Shine taken off special 150th Open week at end by latest LIV Golf rumours

I’m not going to lie. I left St Andrews late on Sunday night feeling a tad deflated as the dust - literally out on the baked-hard Old Course - settled at the end of the 150th Open.

It was partly down to feeling disappointed for Rory McIlroy, though I didn’t agree with those trying to relate this finish in the game’s oldest major to Tom Watson coming agonisingly close to claiming a sixth Claret Jug at Turnberry in 2009.

Like thousands of others, I’d love to have seen McIlroy, for me the finest sight in golf when he’s firing on all cylinders, end his major drought in style by winning a special event at a special place.

That he didn’t was partly down to his putter turning cold on him on the last day, when he hit 18 greens in regulation, but let’s give Cameron Smith the credit he deserves.

Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive, walks from the front of the R&A Clubhouse during the final round of the 150th Open. Picture: Tom Russo.

What a time to record five straight birdies - his hottest streak in a major. What a time to come home in 30. What a time to sign off with a bogey-free eight-under 64. What a time to tie the lowest 72-hole score to par in a major with a 20-under total.

Make no mistake. The Australian is a worthy Champion Golfer of the Year and, to put into context what he’s achieved this year, the only other person to win The Players and The Open in the same year was Jack Nicklaus in 1978.

With his mullet and manner, Smith is one of those likeable lads, but the possibility of him becoming a LIV Golf recruit cast a dark shadow on what was easily one of the most enjoyable weeks as a sports writer.

If he joins Greg Norman’s gang, it would be a real punch in the guts for the R&A after it became the first of the game’s four main stakeholders to speak out publicly about LIV Golf throwing money about like confetti.

It would have been bad enough if one of the players already signed up by Norman had won on Sunday, but for it to be someone supposedly set to take the leap is the worst-possible scenario.

Now, of course, Henrik Stenson is also being strongly tipped to join the so-called Saudi rebels and that would be an astonishing turn of events given that he committed to becoming Europe’s Ryder Cup captain when the breakaway circuit was being mooted earlier in the year.

Quite frankly, LIV Golf is ripping the game apart and I discovered that myself last week, when, on a couple of occasions, I had a heated debate with one of my house guests over it.

Neither of us are even close to the argumentative types but are both passionate about our respective take and, believe me, there seems to be very little middle ground.

We’re still good friends and always will be, but you can’t help feel something similar is going on throughout the golf world and that’s simply not healthy.

Yeah, it’s a pity that after such a memorable week – 64 was the best score in an event we’d been warned could see a 59 – at the best place on the planet, I am actually feeling sad about our great game right now.