Put through to Tom Weiskopf’s room, the journalist asked for time with the man who had won the 1973 Open Championship at Troon.

“I’m going out for dinner soon,” said Weiskopf. “But come on over. We’ll chat in the lobby for a few minutes.”

Two hours later, we were still there, talking golf. Weiskopf’s nickname might have been the “Towering Inferno” in “tribute” to a volatile temperament that surely meant the impressive career numbers he accumulated – 16 PGA Tour wins and that lone major victory during a wet week on the Ayrshire coast – hardly painted an accurate picture of his talent level. But he was a sucker for a fellow addict looking to discuss the game he played so well.

He was modest too and unfailingly honest. By way of example, here is how he described his Open win, what was the highlight of a year in which he won seven times around the world:

“It rained every day. It stopped at times too. And there wasn’t a lot of wind, a breeze at most. I remember it well. I was there a week early, to get used to the time change and the style of game. It was so hard and fast and fiery. I was driving so well I had to lay up a bit. The rough was tough. But the rain changed the course tremendously. Which helped me. The course was ‘wider’ and more predictable and I could hit my driver.

“I had a confidence all week. I had won three out of the previous five weeks. I was at the peak of my game. And I putted very well. I birdied the first two holes and then the long sixth. And I was never tied after that. I shot 68 and led from start to finish. I had only one disaster, a six at the 9th in the third round. But it didn’t upset me. I deserved a six, if I’m honest.”

Weiskopf stands in the rain with the Claret Jug after winning the 1973 Open. PHOTO: Getty Images.

For most of his 20-year career on the PGA Tour, Weiskopf was one the game’s premier players and certainly one of its most-admired swingers of a club. Yet he struggled, both with inner demons – hence the nickname – that found it hard to cope with anything less than excellence and the perhaps inevitable comparisons with his fellow-Ohioan, Jack Nicklaus.

Indeed, two of Weiskopf’s most-quoted utterances concerned Nicklaus. The most famous always raised a rueful smile: “When you played Jack, he knew he was going to beat you. You knew he was going to beat you. And he knew that you knew he was going to beat you.”

Then there was the time the Golden Bear stood on the 16th tee during the final round of the 1986 Masters he would go on to win, Weiskopf, in his role as a CBS commentator, was asked what was going through his old friend’s mind.

“If I knew that, I would have won this tournament,” said the four-time Masters runner-up.

“I was definitely ‘over par’ for my career,” sighed Weiskopf, as he sat in that hotel lobby. “I have to admit that. I’ve always been honest with myself. I quit drinking on January 2, 2000. I haven’t had a sip since then. I knew I had a drinking problem but I just couldn’t solve it. I had tried to stop but couldn’t. I didn’t drink every day but I liked to party with the guys. I liked to have a good time and I couldn’t say no. It got me into a lot of situations I regret.

RIGHT: Weiskopf was regarded as one of the best swingers of his generation. Here, he's preparing for the 1975 Open at Carnoustie. PHOTO: Getty Images.

“Anyway, that had an effect on my game,” he continued. “It shortened my career. I had to quit and do something else. I was at a point in my life where I was very unhappy. I was frustrated. I knew I had not put in the effort I should have. I practised hard and put a lot into it physically. But I rarely put in the mental preparation that is necessary. And my commitment during rounds was often questionable. Even par for me would have been maybe three majors and twice as many regular tour wins.”

For the record, Weiskopf picked up a cool $2,241,687 on the PGA Tour alone, before he packed it all in at age 43 to start his highly successful golf course design business. In that realm he retained a keen interest in how golf is played at all levels and, like so many informed observers, was not far short of horrified by modern technological developments.

“The golf ball goes way too far,” he asserted. “It is the one piece of equipment that has changed the game dramatically, from the feathery to the gutta percha to where we are today. The problem stems from the fact that the USGA lost a lawsuit with Ping over the grooves on clubs all those years ago. Now the authorities are scared to get involved in another. But they are smart people. I don’t see why they can’t come up with a ‘tournament specification’ for the ball. That wouldn’t mean that the amateur couldn’t play or buy that ball. It would be just like it was for the world outside the U.S when you guys had to change from the small ball to the big ball. Or they could roll the ball back over a period of time until they reach a pre-determined point.

Weiskopf poses with fellow Open champions Nick Price, Mark O'Meara and Tiger Woods during the Champion's Challenge at St. Andrews in 2015. PHOTO: Getty Images.

“The saddest thing is that the ball has taken so many wonderful courses out of play for the professionals,” he continued. “I can’t believe the R&A and USGA can’t get together with the manufacturers and come up with something that is for the betterment and protection of the game and those who play it at the highest level. I say we should go back to one of the original rules of golf, the one that said the next teeing ground should be no more than two steps from the last hole played. Now we’re coming off a green and walking 50-75 yards back up the hole we’ve just played. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Sadly, of course, he has been silenced.

Weiskopf, 79, died August 21 at his home in Montana, a victim of the pancreatic cancer he had bravely fought since his diagnosis in 2020. It would be easy, lazy even, to say he will be missed. But he will be. His was such an important voice. And I, like so many others, loved listening to it.