Mark O'Meara made a smooth transition from the links terrain of Waterville and Ballybunion last week to capture top prize of £300,000 in a thrilling finale to the 127th British Open here yesterday. The 41-year-old American beat compatriot Brian Watts by two strokes in a four-hole play-off for the title.

On Saturday evening, Watts was an anonymous figure, dining here in a Southport restaurant with his wife and caddie. Twenty-four hours later, his image was being transmitted around the world in a courageous, if unavailing challenge, which contained a particularly memorable bunker recovery to save par at the 72nd.

More than 37,000 spectators watched a thrilling final round. And during the drama of the climactic moments, O'Meara's wife, Alicia, 11-year-old daughter Michelle and nine-year-old son Shaun were crouched expectantly by the 18th. Then, as they had done at Augusta three months ago, they ran on to the green in his moment of victory to congratulate their modest hero.

Even the vanquished Watts made a point of acknowledging a wonderfully sporting champion. "Mark is a great guy, one of the classiest acts on the US Tour." He added: "I knew I had to hole that bunker-shot on the fourth play-off hole to have any chance."

Though the 32-year-old has no pedigree as a US Tour player, 11 victories to his credit on the Japanese Tour clearly made him a competitor of some quality. And the second-place prize money of $188,000 has now given him the option of playing in his native country next season.

So what are his future plans? "I don't know where I'll base myself," replied the player who is forced to make regular flights between a home in Oklahoma and his work in Japan because of the price of house property closer to his work. "What I do hope is that my performance here has earned some respect for the Japanese Tour."

It was perhaps no surprise that an American should have won, given that they dominated the event since John Huston and Tiger Woods were tied for the lead after the first round. Yet it remains an interesting fact that no European has succeeded in winning in what has now become eight stagings at this venue.

Before setting out on his final round, O'Meara was approached on the putting green by Jesper Parnevik, who was second at Turnberry in 1994 and tied second behind Justin Leonard last year. "Does it get any easier, now that you have won in Augusta?" the Swede wished to know. "No," came the reply. "I'm probably just as nervous as I ever am going into the final round of a major."

Yet, five hours later, O'Meara conceded: "I think I took a little bit from my Masters victory and dealt with all the pressure. I've now won two majors in three months, and if I could put my finger on why this has happened I would have done it a lot earlier. I guess it has to do with maturity and patience."

Whatever the ingredients, it delivered a "major" double which was last achieved by Nick Faldo in 1990. But at 41, the American has gained the unique distinction of becoming the oldest player in the modern game to win more than one major in the same season - a record previously held by Ben Hogan (1953) and Jack Nicklaus (1980), when they were both 40.

Against that background, O'Meara can now claim to be something of an expert on pressure. So, it was a considerable boost to Watts when he commented: "I think Brian's bunker recovery on the 72nd hole was as good as any shot I have ever seen under pressure."

On Friday evening, when he was in a share of sixth place, O'Meara responded positively to the possibility of being paired yesterday with his young friend, Tiger Woods, in a battle for the title. It would have happened in the play-off if Woods had managed to squeeze one more birdie out of a sparkling homeward journey of 33.

As it happened, the 22-year-old staged a dramatic finish by chipping into the hole for a most improbable birdie at the long 17th and then holing a 30-foot putt on the last for another birdie, to claim third place on his own at one over par. Ironically, his total ceased to have any relevance in a winning context when O'Meara birdied the 17th, three pairings later.

But the older man had no misgivings about the way things turned out for his young friend. "Don't worry about Tiger's game," he said. "At 22, he's going to win many more majors."

A difference of 19 years and countless millions of dollars tends to prompt those sentiments.