Tom Watson, Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer choose St Andrews golf course for their final show

By V Krishnaswamy

Playing at the Old Course at St Andrews gets a reaction from the best of all generations. Many consider their first appearance a dream come true, while winners call the triumph their greatest achievement.
Then there are the legends who come to St Andrews to play the Open one last time at the Old Course. Arnold Palmer did that in 1995, Jack Nicklaus in 2005 and now in 2015, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer are using the stage to bid goodbye. Long before, Peter Thomson did the same in 1984.

Palmer did not play the Open after 1990, but came back for one last time in 1995, when he was about to turn 65, at which point his lifetime exemption to the event would run out.The exemption for former champions was revised to 60 years.

Before Palmer, Australian Thomson, the first man to win the Open five times, made his final appearance at the Open in 1984 at the age of 54. He later bought a house just a stone's throw from the Old Course and keeps coming back each year--even this year at the age of 85. Thomson's Indian connection is that he won the Indian Open three times.

Nicklaus, who won his second and third Opens in 1970 and 1978, played the 2000 Open in what many believed was his last appear ance at the event. But after not teeing up for the next four years, he made a `final' farewell appearance in 2005--the picture of him wav ing from the Swilcan Bridge on the 18th on the second day is iconic.

This year another legend Watson, a fivetime winner of the Open but never at St Andrews, has chosen the `Home of Golf' for his farewell appearance. In fact the Royal and Ancient made a special exemption for Watson--past champions up to 60 are exempt and Watson is past 65. So, Watson gets one more shot at St Andrews. But he is no pushover--last month he shot a 66.

Three-time winner Nick Faldo also seeks to make this appearance his last--he won at St Andrews in 1990 and twice more at Muirfield. Langer, on the other hand, is here as the winner of the Senior Open.

So, why have these golfers chosen the Open for their final show? Nicklaus once famously said, "If you want to be remembered, you have to win at St Andrews."

Another legend, Bobby Jones, said, "If I had to select one course upon which to play the match of my life, I should have selected the Old Course."

Finally, a word from Tiger Woods: "You know, obviously it's the Home of Golf, we all know that. But to me it's brilliant, how you can play it so many different ways. I've always wanted to play it one time--before I die I want to one time play it backwards."

Golfers who have done it, say it is a fabulous experience.