Sandy Lyle has said that he was shocked by the furore surrounding his decision to quit during the first round at Royal Birkdale last week.
The 50-year-old Scot told BBC Sport that the backlash over his withdrawal after playing just ten holes was "quite amazing", adding: "I didn''t think I''d be quite that big a name at The Open."
Lyle admitted that he regrets letting the spectators and sponsors down, but claimed that his actions will not have scuppered his chances of becoming Europe''s Ryder Cup captain in 2010.
"The Ryder Cup is two years away and there''s a lot of water to go under the bridge … As far as my position is concerned, I don''t think it will do a great deal of harm," the 1985 Open champion said.
Lyle wrote a letter of apology to Peter Dawson after the R&A chief executive publicly criticised his decision to walk off the course at Royal Birkdale.
He will tee off at The Senior Open Championship at Royal Troon today, where he is due to play alongside Tom Watson and Greg Norman.
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