The winner of golf’s ‘Duel in the Sun’ has said he would be ‘very disappointed’ if the Open Championship does not return to the course where he won it.

Tom Watson acknowledged that his controversial compatriot Donald Trump’s purchase of Turnberry has added an extra political dimension to the debate regarding if and when the Ayrshire venue will be used for the sport’s greatest competition again.

However the five-times Open winner, who is contesting the British Seniors Open across Scotland at Carnoustie this week, believes the American presidential candidate has made a difference for the better on the Ayrshire coast.

“Turnberry has been significantly changed for the better. It's an awesome golf course (that has) been made world-class,” he said.

“The political thing is anybody's guess what might happen. I'm just saying the golf course is A1.”

Officials of the R&A, which runs the Open, avoided the issue last week when they said Turnberry remains on the rota but that they have only lined up venues for the next four and it is not among them.

However Watson urged them to get it back there as soon as possible.

“I would be very disappointed if they don't go back to Trump Turnberry.

“”I don't like to rank, but to me it's right at the top. It's not just good; it's excellent.

“The thing is, the beauty they added to it, the length they added to it; now it can be played with any wind and it will still be a very challenging golf course for The Open Championship, wherever it goes. It can never be called too short.”

Watson offered that endorsement just days after witnessing a finale to the Open that he believes has eclipsed his famous clash with Jack Nicklaus in 1977 which was dubbed ‘The Duel in the Sun’.

“It was better, it was better,” Watson insisted, when asked how Sunday’s final day of this year’s Open Championship at Troon compared, as Henrik Stenson eased clear of Phil Mickelson to win his first major.

“You just look at the facts of the matter… Henrik shot 8-under par in the last round of a very tough golf course, Phil shot 5-under, no bogeys.

“It was a shootout right from the start. Great shot after great shot. Great putt after great putt.

“It was one for the ages. You all recognised that. It was really something special and we live for that.

“The Open Championship, sometimes you come right down to the wire where somebody may make a birdie in the last hole to win, but there are a lot of people that can vie for it.

“This one, you knew from the start, it was a two-man race. It was a two-man tournament, which made it so unique. You don't have that, you rarely ever have that in championship golf.

“The aura of this championship won't wear off. It's there. It's always going to be there.

“People, when they talk about The Open, they will say, yeah, Stenson, Mickelson at Troon. They will always talk about that in the highest echelon of conversation about The Open Championship.

“Jack and I, we had a pretty good contest. But you look at the facts, they were 13-under and Jack and I were 9-under. If you had to rank it, you had to rank that above ours, that's for sure.”