But he insisted: “If you want to go the sort of Hollywood route and do all the commercials it is available. But I sort of shunned away from that sort of thing. I didn’t want to do it. My golf to me was more important. Unfortunately the golf went south for quite a time in the nineties.”

So far south that Lyle has not come close to winning a tournament since he beat Colin Montgomerie in the Volvo Masters at Valderrama in 1992.

That 1985 Open victory, however, saves him the anguish of having to qualify for his favourite tournament. And though the ambition when he tees up for this year’s championship on Thursday will be “to win” he is under no illusions how difficult it will be to tame once more the scorched fairways of the Sandwich course.

“We’ve got a real battle on our hands this week,” said Lyle.

“The fairways are playing very tight and it’s going to be running too. You have to drive the ball straight. If you go 20 or 30 yards off line you just go deeper and deeper into the jungle and probably a no-return area if you’re not careful.”

Lyle knows all about battling at Royal St George’s, having fluffed his chip from Duncan’s Hollow at the 18th back in 1985 and seen the ball roll back to him. The image of him collapsing to his knees is still vivid.

For a horrible moment he thought it had cost him the Open title but he regrouped to get down in two and take the trophy.

The memory of that achievement remains sharp, as does his US Masters victory in 1988.

“Every year I know I can tee up on the first tee and play the Open championship until I’ve had enough,” said Lyle.

“It’s a nice feeling to have. Of all the championships the Masters and the Open are the two that would be my wish to play in every year. So I can’t complain. It still excites me to play here, there are some good vibes.”

According to Lyle, however, this year’s champion is more likely to be endowed with finesse and intelligence rather than raw power.

“It’s not going to be a powerhouse-type player,” said Lyle.

“A dark horse like Freddie Funk perhaps, a straight player, not a very long player. Tiger Woods will have to use a lot of one and two irons. He’ll be comfortable doing that.

“The Masters is about power. This week is about patience and driving accuracy. You can’t leave Tiger out. He’ll get himself around this golf course.”

Lyle accepts his own chances are not great but refuses to rule out the possibility of a nostalgic second triumph.

“My ambitions are to win,” he said. “But if I could get top 10 I would be happy with my performance.

Last year I was up there after two rounds but didn’t play very well at the weekend. But I put some good rounds together and it is encouraging knowing I can still do it.

“I’ve been playing pretty reasonable the last few months, putting a lot of birdies on the card.”