In the movie “Dumb and Dumber” Jim Carey’s character says to a woman “senior citizens, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose.”

Tom Watson, just weeks away from his 60th birthday, proved senior citizens definitely serve a purpose in golf, showing players half his age how to win a major championship.

Watson played nearly perfect golf for 71 1/2 holes on the course where he and Jack Nicklaus dueled for the 1977 British Open.

After the first day, Watson stood near the top of the leaderboard and everyone hoped he would be able to play a solid second round and hang around for the weekend.

Watson had a better than solid second round, he had a round to be remembered. He was sinking putts for incredible birdies and remarkable pars. Somehow as younger golfers challenged for the lead, Watson was able to fight them off like the wily veteran he is and was tied atop the leaderboard heading into the weekend.

Once again, like Greg Norman last year, everyone expected Watson to come back to the rest of the pack as the younger players would certainly be able to track down this old man. Instead, Watson was alone on top after Saturday’s play. He was 18 holes away from not only claiming his sixth British Open title, but also becoming the oldest player in the modern area to win a major as well.

As Watson teed off Sunday, no one was rooting against him to pull off the upset except most of his fellow competitors and perhaps some of them wanted to see Watson hold up the Claret Jug one more time.

And who could blame them? Rooting against Watson was like pulling for Bluto against Popeye, Wily E. Coyote against the Roadrunner or Elmer Fudd against Bugs Bunny.

After 71 holes and nearly four days of golf, it came down to one hole of golf for Watson and the senior citizens of the world.

Watson smashed the perfect drive in the center of the fairway. As he stood in the fairway about to hit his approach shot to 18, Watson made perhaps his most critical mistake of the tournament and hit an 8-iron instead of the 9-iron. The ball was right on line but as normal for a links course, the ball bounced hard and fast and right off the green.

His birdie putt sailed eight feet past the hole and left Watson with one putt for history. Throughout his magical week, Watson was finding the bottom of the cup with similar putts, but now when he needed it most, his putter failed him.

Even though he was headed to a four-hole playoff with fellow American Stewart Cink, Watson’s tournament life ended on the 72nd hole. Cink claimed his first major by six strokes in the playoff and also became the guy who beat Watson for the Claret Jug.

“The same Tom Watson that won this tournament in ‘77, the same guy showed up here this week,” Cink said. “And he just about did it. He beat everybody but one guy. And it was really special.”

It was a special week for golf fans across the world. People say golf is a sport for people of all ages and it’s true.

Tom Watson proved for one week, golf clubs and golf balls don’t know or care how old you are when you tee it up, only how old you feel on the inside. And at Turnberry, Watson felt like a teenager.

n Contact sports editor Shawn Stinson at 997-3111 ext. 14; e-mail sstinson@yourdailyjournal.com