THE Open at Royal Birkdale may be over for now, but here we continue the theme of last week's LookBack with one last installment of memories from Britain's premier golf tournament.
Peter Wroe chartered flights for the cream of the US golf world to the 1983 Open at Royal Birkdale - and knows that the drama of the championship isn't always confined to the course.
To make sure that legends including Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were returned to their home country with supersonic speed, Peter was responsible for laying on the first flight of Concorde from Manchester to New York to tie in with the tournament.
But as the action heated-up on the course, he remembers tensions rising over the looming prospect of a three-way tie leading to an 18-hole play-off.
That would have been held on the Monday after the usual end of the tournament - the very day Concorde was due to jet back to the Big Apple.
Peter faced the headache of either a delayed departure or flying back with half his complement of America's leading golfers, their wives, officials, VIPs and ABC television crews missing.
It was the playing panache of one of those passengers, Tom Watson, which averted a final showdown, and Peter remembers the relief at Manchester Airport being palpable.
"Watson hit a two-iron online and into the wind," he said.
"And for those involved in the Concorde charter that was the difference between a joyful flight at 55,000- ft and a public relations nightmare."
Peter, now living in Derbyshire, told LookBack how a survey of the cabin on the flight revealed "the cream of American golf enjoying the speed, charter convenience and prestige of Britain's finest aircraft.
"Here on one aircraft were a group of golfers responsible for over 250 Tour victories and over 50 Majors," he recalled.
"Tom Watson, an avid aviator, took the Claret Jug up into the cockpit and spent time with Captain Monty Burton and his crew and posed for photographs at Mach 2.
"Like the 2-iron to the green at the 18th, it was a flight no one would forget."
Five-times Open Championship winner Tom Watson on his return to Royal Birkdale last week
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