Harry Vardon. Open champion 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, 1914

Vardon has to be in the list simply for the fact that no one can match his six Open Championships.

Whether the standard of competition he faced could be compared to today's in what was still largely an amateur era is a moot point - he won six, and until someone matches that (over to you, Tiger?) he remains out on his own.

Born in 1870, Vardon turned profesional at 20 and was the game's first true superstar, travelling across the United States around the turn of the century and playing in massively-attended exhibition matches.

He popularised the overlapping grip which bears his name and was renowned for his powerful swing. He was also tremendously fit by the standards of the golfing age, famously commenting: "Don't play too much golf. Two rounds a day is plenty."

He won his first Open in 1896, with his sixth and final success coming on the eve of war in the summer of 1914 at the age of 44.

Vardon is one-third of Britain's famed "Great Triumvirate" of golfers, along with J.H. Taylor and James Braid. The three could fairly be said to have laid the foundations for the modern game.

Peter Thomson. Open champion 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1965

Younger readers might ask 'Peter Who?' because somewhat unfairly, the Australian has almost dropped off the modern radar despite his exceptional Open record.

His profile is nowhere near as high as the likes of Arnold Palmer or Gary Player, but his record of five Opens - as many as those two combined - puts him head and shoulders above the two Greats, at least in this list.

Born in Melbourne in 1929, Thomson holds the unique distinction in the 20th century of winning three successive Open Championships, 1954-56. He also lifted the Claret Jug in 1958 and 1965.

Thomson was very much an Open Championship and a links specialist - his record in America was poor, with just one win, the 1956 Texas Open. His best finishes in the Stateside majors were fourth in the 1956 U.S. Open and fifth in the 1957 Masters. He never played in the PGA Championship.

But this is an appraisal of Open Legends and Thomson definitely falls into that category, not least because he was so expert at working his way around hard, bouncy, undulating courses.

The only reason he may be often overlooked is that his Open wins in the 1950s did not come against the best Americans, who at the time tended not to travel across the Atlantic.

Not so in 1965, however, as Thomson beat a world class field that included Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

He won the New Zealand Open nine times, but it is his five successes on the other side of the globe which make Thomson an Open great.

Arnold Palmer. Open champion 1961, 1962

Palmer's record of two Open Championships does not really place him in this company but few would dispute that 'The King' is not an Open legend.

Quite simply, he is the man who made the oldest major what it is today.

The Open was hardly withering on the vine in the 1950s but it was losing some of its lustre, because the top American players preferred not to travel across the Atlantic.

It was Palmer's electrifying presence which transformed all that and the status of the tournament grew throughout the 1960s thanks to his support.

Like the greats who succeeded him - Nicklaus and Woods in particular - Palmer's prime goal was to win majors. He (and his manager Mark McCormack) knew that all the money and honours would follow on from that.

The Open was a major and Palmer wanted to win it. After finishing second at his first attempt in 1960, he won it back-to-back the following two years.

The fact that he had just three other top 10s and no other top five finishes does not really matter. Palmer's charisma revived the tournament and his presence helped bring the other top Americans to the table.

To call him the man who saved the Open may be stretching a point, but he certainly revived the great old championship when its health appeared to be failing.

Jack Nicklaus. Open champion 1966, 1970, 1978

The greatest golfer's legendary status is not in doubt, but ironically the presence on this list of golf's most prolific major champion owes as much to his losing Opens as winning them.

Nicklaus was Open champion three times but he completely dominated the event for nearly 20 years.

When you look at the numbers, his record in this championship is quite simply incredible.

From 1963 to 1980 he was outside the top 10 just once - in 1965 when he finished in a tie for 12th. Throughout the 1970s he was never outside the top five, outside the top three just twice.

That sort of consistency is completely unheard of from any other player in any other championship.

Even for Nicklaus, it is special. He won the Masters six times, but his record at Augusta is nowhere near as consistent as it is at the Open.

Of course he should have won the title more often but to be in contention every year for so long was incredible.

He bestrode the event like a colossus for two decades and his very presence in the field made every other champion's achievement that little bit sweeter.

Tom Watson. Open champion 1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983

Watson's status as an Open icon would be pretty well assured on the basis of just one Sunday afternoon 30 years ago. His 'Duel in the Sun' with arch-rival Jack Nicklaus has become part of golfing folklore.

The television pictures of those parched Turnberry fairways in 1977 have a resonance that echoes down the decades.

After shooting third round 65s, Watson and Nicklaus went head-to-head on the final day and were tied for the lead after 16 holes.

Watson birdied the next to go a shot clear, then fired his approach at the last to three feet. Nicklaus - as it almost seemed fated he would - rolled in his own 30-foot birdie try for a closing 66, then watched Watson make no mistake with his three-footer for a 65.

It was one of the great Sundays, one of the great championships and the zenith of one of golf's great rivalries.

Watson's status as an Open great is assured by the fact that he went head-to-head with Nicklaus in the championship and got the better of him - winning five titles in a nine-year spell from 1975.

The quietly-spoken man from Kansas won three other majors and the PGA Tour Money Title on five occasions, but it is for his feats in the Open that he will always be remembered.

Seve Ballesteros. Open Champion 1979, 1984, 1988

Seve is one of nine players to have won three Open Championships - 10 have won more - but it would be impossible to keep the Spaniard off a list of Open legends.

Legendary status is not all about the record book, it is also something intangible. It is the resonance a man's deeds carry through the decades, a sense that this was something very special indeed, something to be remembered with a sense of awe.

It was the way in which he won which earns Seve his place, and the style with which on occasion he lost.

Ballesteros should have won the Open in 1976 at the age of 19 when he finished second to Johnny Miller. He led by two shots at the halfway stage and retained that lead going into the final day, but a series of disasters including a triple bogey at the seventh, and a course-record 66 from the American conspired to deny him.

Top 20s in the next two years were followed by his first title in 1979 at Lytham at the age of 22. Ballesteros' final round has gone down in Open history as he conjured up a series of wonderful recoveries to record a closing 70 and win by two shots from Ben Crenshaw and Nicklaus.

He used his driver nine times on that Sunday and hit just one fairway. On 16 he drove into a car park, hit his approach to 30 feet and rolled in the 30-foot birdie putt. That putt alone has gone down in Open history. The round is part of Open folklore.

Seve won two subsequent Opens in 1984 at St Andrews - denying Tom Watson an historic sixth triumph - and on the championship's return to Lytham four years later.

The Spaniard's status in the game is so high and his association with other events like the Ryder Cup so intense that his Open exploits can be almost overshadowed, but he remains one of the championship's true greats.