Guide to the Open's final round

Monday, 23 July 2007

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Ben Curtis believes his six-under-par 65 on the final day gave added credibility to his win at Royal St George's four years ago.

When Curtis, who shot up the leader board to finish three under, won at Sandwich he was an unknown and ranked 396th in the world.

As a result his victory received less attention and, despite two wins on the PGA Tour the following year, he disappeared into obscurity in terms of the majors.

This week Curtis got past the cut for the first time since lifting the Claret Jug and he made the most of it on the final day. "I think it gives my win credibility," said the 30-year-old from Ohio, who all week has been wearing Miami Dolphins and New York Giants branded clothing to promote the teams' NFL game at Wembley in October.

"It is a four-day tournament, not a one-day tournament, but I think playing a round like that on a day like today it should prove that it was a great win. The last three years have been disappointing for me here. This year my main goal was to make the cut and then after you obviously want to play well and get into contention.

"I didn't think I had a round like that in me. I have been driving it fairly well,but my irons have been pretty poor. But today I did a shortened warm-up and just went out there and played to see what would happen.

"Whether it was five over or five under - who cares? It was just one of those days where I made a couple of long putts which got things going my way."

Richard Green admitted the pressure got to him after missing a putt which would have set a new Carnoustie course record and equalled the lowest-ever round in a major.

The rangy Australian shot a record-equalling round of 64, but a bogey at the 18th hole cost him a historic new mark.

"I definitely felt the pressure,"the 36-year-old Green said. "It's a very demanding hole. I thought it was going to be fantastic to make that putt. I read it as well as I could possibly have read it and I probably hit as good a putt as I was going to hit. I just missed on the low side, which was a shame."

Quotes of the day

"I hit marginal shots most of the week, I could not get it close enough to the hole to make enough putts.

I was not as sharp as I needed to be win." Tiger Woods after his attempt to win a hat-trick of Opens fizzled out.

"I definitely felt the pressure. It's a very demanding hole. I read it as well as I could possibly have read it and I probably hit as good a putt as I was going to hit. I just missed on the low side, which was a shame." Richard Green after a bogey on the 18th cost him a historic 63.

"You don't have to do extraordinary things to do well out there. You have to just play solid golf, hit fairways, hit greens, take your chances when they come and play for pars on difficult holes. You don't have to hit phenomenal shots to do well. I think it's been a great performance at my first major and first Open Championship." The 18-year-old Rory McIlroy after finishing five over par for the tournament.

"It is hard not only to play and stay dry and keep your clubs dry, it is hard to keep concentration and hard for your caddie." The former champion Mark O'Meara bemoans yesterday morning's wet conditions at Carnoustie.

Final-round scores

GB or Irl unless stated

* denotes amateur

277 (7-under)

Padraig Harrington 69 73 68 67 (won after four-hole play-off); Sergio Garcia (Sp) 65 71 68 73

278 (6-under)

Andres Romero (Arg) 71 70 70 67

279 (5-under)

Richard Green (Aus) 72 73 70 64; Ernie Els (SA) 72 70 68 69

280 (4-under)

Hunter Mahan (US) 73 73 69 65; Stewart Cink (US) 69 73 68 70

281 (3-under)

Ben Curtis (US) 72 74 70 65; Mike Weir (Can) 71 68 72 70; K J Choi (S Kor) 69 69 72 71; Steve Stricker (US) 71 72 64 74

282 (2-under)

Markus Brier (Aut) 68 75 70 69; Tiger Woods (US) 69 74 69 70; Justin Rose 75 70 67 70; Pelle Edberg (Swe) 72 73 67 70; Miguel Angel Jimenez (Sp) 69 70 72 71; Jim Furyk (US) 70 70 71 71; Paul Broadhurst 71 71 68 72

283 (1-under)

Paul McGinley 67 75 68 73

284 (par)

Pat Perez (US) 73 70 71 70; Zach Johnson (US) 73 73 68 70; Rich Beem (US) 70 73 69 72

285 (1-over)

Mark Calcavecchia (US) 74 70 72 69; Jonathan Byrd (US) 73 72 70 70; Retief Goosen (SA) 70 71 73 71; Chris DiMarco (US) 74 70 66 75

286 (2-over)

Ian Poulter 73 73 70 70; Adam Scott (Aus) 73 70 72 71; Rod Pampling (Aus) 70 72 72 72; Paul Casey 72 73 69 72; Lucas Glover (US) 71 72 70 73; J J Henry (US) 70 71 71 74; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 72 71 68 75

287 (3-over)

Angel Cabrera (Arg) 68 73 72 74

288 (4-over)

Mark Foster 76 70 73 69; Niclas Fasth (Swe) 75 69 73 71; Charley Hoffman (US) 75 69 72 72; Shaun Micheel (US) 70 76 70 72; Lee Westwood 71 70 73 74; Boo Weekley (US) 68 72 75 73; Nick Watney (US) 72 71 70 75

289 (5-over)

Ryan Moore (US) 72 72 74 71; *Rory McIlroy 68 76 73 72; Nick Dougherty 71 74 69 75

290 (6-over)

Carl Pettersson (Swe) 70 75 73 72; John Senden (Aus) 72 74 71 73; Arron Oberholser (US) 73 71 72 74; Ross Bain 73 71 72 74

291 (7-over)

Lee Won-joon (Aus) 73 73 70 75; Jerry Kelly (US) 74 70 71 76

293 (9-over)

Tom Lehman (US) 73 73 74 73; Kevin Stadler (US) 75 71 74 73

294 (10-over)

Gregory Bourdy (Fr) 70 72 77 75; Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 75 74 75; David Howell 72 76 73 75; Brian Davis 74 72 71 77

295 (11-over)

Anders Hansen (Den) 72 73 74 76; Michael Campbell (NZ) 68 78 72 77; Scott Verplank (US) 72 73 72 78