One of the great Open Championship golfers of all time, Peter Thomson, died on Wednesday at the age of 88. Thomson won The Open in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1965. Only Harry Vardon has more with six Opens, and three of those came in the 19th century.

Thomson, an Australian who also finished in the top five at the Masters and U.S. Open in his career, won over 50 times worldwide, including on the senior tours. His only other PGA Tour win came at the Texas International Open in 1956. His Open wins came at Royal Birkdale (twice), St. Andrews, Royal Liverpool and Royal Lytham and St. Annes. He also finished runner up in 1952, 1953 and 1957.

Thomson, I have to say, seems to have been a bit of a reprieve from the modern player toting Trackman around and optimizing spin rates at every turn. Here's the Sydney Morning Herald.

He played with a glorious simplicity, and despised the modern tendency to over-analyze the beautiful game. "I was content with my own company. I liked to figure things out for myself. Looking back, nobody taught me but countless people encouraged me. I think building up the ego of a young man is very important. But making golf a science and insisting that people study it, they get the feeling 'this is difficult'. Whereas really, they should consider it easy because it is. It's just whacking a ball, for goodness sakes."

Thomson served as president of the Australian PGA for over 30 years and put his hands in a variety of disciplines late in his life, including politics and course design. He also had a tremendous career on the PGA Tour Champions. Thomson battled Parkinson's for the last few years until his death on Wednesday. Here's the Australian PGA.

He had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for more than four years and lost his brave battle at home in Melbourne surrounded by family at 9 a.m. Born on 23 August 1929, he was two months short of his 89th birthday.

"Peter was a true gentleman and will be forever remembered throughout the world of golf as one of the great champions of our wonderful sport," R&A CEO Martin Slumbers said in a statement. "He was a distinguished Honorary Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and will be sorely missed by all of us at The R&A. Our thoughts are with his family at this very sad time."

"Peter gave me a number of very interesting and valuable thoughts on the game, how it has developed and where it is going which demonstrated his genuine interest and love of golf," added Slumbers. "He was one of the most decorated and celebrated champion golfers in the history of The Open, winning the championship five times in total and becoming the only golfer of the 20th century to lift the Claret Jug on three consecutive occasions between 1954 and 1956."

Thomson lived an extraordinary life, and it's clear he was beloved all over the globe. Five Opens are obviously the headliner, but he had a love for the game that runs a little contrary to the experience some pros have these days. He loved golf. How much better can the portion of your obituary dealing with your life as a sportsman be? 

"It [golf] reached out and grabbed me. I followed it faithfully," he once told the Sydney Morning Herald. "It was a good excuse for not working."