What began as 59 year-old professional golfer Tom Watson providing hope for the imaginations of legions of middle-aged men around the globe, became nothing more than a footnote shortly after a four hole playoff began to determine the winner of the 138th playing of the Open Championship.

Watson did have a put to win the title outright, but failed to capitalize, which led to the aforementioned playoff with American Stewart Cink.

When the week began, Watson’s presence at the fabled Turnberry Golf Club felt more of the nostalgia variety, much like the participation of the great Jack Ncklaus had been in the early part of this decade before finally retiring from competitive golf altogether.

However, Watson took advantage of picture perfect golf conditions on Thursday to shoot a 5 under (65), and finish the day just one stroke behind Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez.

This has been a familiar site at major tournaments in recent years, a former golfing great taking the early lead, providing the throngs a resurgent sense of optimism that something special might happen on their watch.

However, in every instance this optimism has been short-lived. Greg Norman provided this thrill at the Open Championship last year, firing out of the gate strong and ultimately finishing in a tie for third.

This year’s edition of the Open Championship, would be no different: and though Watson did not have a Van de Velde like collapse, shooting a second round 70, and a third round 71, to come into the final round atop the leader board, when it mattered most, his game ultimately let him down.

On the first playoff hole, the Par 5 fourth, both Cink and Watson fired their second shots into green side bunkers, with Cink managing to save par, while Watson fell behind. Both men made par on the second playoff hole to keep Cink one ahead. From there, it was all Cink, as the veteran from Huntsville, Alabama played grassroots golf: fairways and greens, while Watson simply couldn’t keep pace.

For Watson it could have been a storybook ending to a brilliant career, a career that includes five British Open titles, including the fabled Duel in the Sun against rival Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry in 1977.

For Cink, it marks his first major win, and what makes it more intriguing, is how he won the title: doing so despite everyone at home watching on TV and the internet, and those following the action at the course itself, rooting wholeheartedly for his opponent.

Competitive sports are not supposed to have good guys and bad guys, and truth be told, they don’t. However, on remote occasions the stars align and we, as fans, find ourselves watching what feels like something special: Roger Federer’s win last month at Wimbledon to eclipse Pete Sampras’ slam record for example.

This year’s Open Championship had much the same feel, with everyone pulling for one guy, leaving Stewart Cink to play Ivan Drago to Watson’s Rocky.

I’ve often wondered whether this spurs professional athletes on further (as they most often claim), or if it makes you feel like you are playing to a congregation of crickets when your serve, or turn at the tee arrives.

An interesting psychological experiment to say the least, though for Cink, all that matters now is his name etched onto the Claret Jug, an important first step to playing the hero in years to come.