By Noel O'Reilly
Arnold Palmer said farewell to Royal County Down this afternoon as his Senior British Open came to a premature end.
The seven-time major winner has struggled with his game this week and his two-round total of 159, 17-over par, was sadly way off the pace. The damage was done yesterday, a first round 84 ensuring he would not last until the weekend.
But the 71-year-old did finish strongly today, closing with 34 for his final nine holes to leave his army of fans wondering what might have been.
"The tournament started 27 holes too early," he joked afterwards. "Today hitting the ball was much, much better".
Palmer believes that not coming here earlier in the week to get in more than one practice round was an error of judgement that hamstrung his challenge before it had even started.
"Overall, the mistake was not coming over here until Wednesday," he said. "I made a huge tactical error. I really just didn’t calculate the situation correctly.
The winner of four US Masters was generous with his praise of the Co Down course but was noncommittal about returning to this event next year, the last time it will be played here for the time being.
"There is a possibility," he said. "The venue here really is outstanding. Even though I played so poorly I will give it some serious consideration."