Hoylake, United Kingdom: American Ryder Cup captain and five-time Open champion Tom Watson showed he can still mix it with the best as a sparkling final round 68 left him with a proud score of one over for the tournament.

The 64-year-old, who won his quintet of British Opens between 1975 and 1983 and stands sixth on the all-time list with eight majors, shrugged off an opening hole bogey to rattle home five birdies including one at the 18th after a rousing reception.

“That was a good day. I enjoyed that, that was good, very good,” said Watson.

“I made five birdies and bogeyed the first hole with a bad chip. But that was about it. It was a fun day today.

“I think, if I’m not mistaken — did I miss a fairway today? Let me see — yeah, I missed 11. The first day I missed six fairways but it was a good day, good comeback.”

Watson will captain the Ryder Cup team against Europe at Gleneagles in September for the second time after leading the United States to victory in 1993 at the Belfry.

And this week’s action at Hoylake has given him plenty of food for thought ahead of his final 12-man team selection.

“I’m looking at players, I’m looking at all the players that have a chance to make the Ryder Cup team,” he said.

“And today, double points, we’ll see what happens. Rickie Fowler is certainly a point man today. If he does well, he’s on the team. I like Rickie, I like his attitude, I like what he’s doing. He’s playing well and, when you’re playing well, life is good, so Rickie is at that stage right now.”

One player in danger of missing out on only his second Ryder Cup since 1997 is Tiger Woods, who finished near the bottom of the pack and well out of contention on six over par.

Watson said, however, it is too soon to make a decision on whether to include the 14-time major winner, who has only recently returned to action following much needed back surgery.

“If he’s playing well and in good health, I’ll pick him. But the caveat to that is if he does make the FedExCup team.

“It looks like he’s playing without pain, but, again, he’s not in the mix.

“He needed to get in the mix to get some points to get some money and get in the FedExCup. That’s what I was hoping he was doing this week.

“We’re going to talk on the phone but it’s a little bit early with Tiger to even talk to as far as where he is, where he needs to be is higher up on the list.”