Smiling Romero still delighted despite desperate finish

For a man who surged in unprecedented fashion to the top of the leader board on nine-under-par with two holes to play, only to let the Open slip from his grasp, Andres Romero's press conference grin was remarkably wide, and genuine.

While yet another play-off drama here will linger long in the memory, the young Argentine's role on a barely credible day of ups and downs also merits its place in history.

Before he dropped two shots on the 17th and another on the 18th, his round had been astonishing enough: 10 birdies, one previous double bogey, one bogey, and four pars. But then from heavy rough on the 17th, his second shot slammed into the wall of the Barry Burn, bounced across the fairway and went out of bounds.

Forced to drop a second ball of the day - he had already done so at the 12th - the 26-year-old outsider found the green in four, and two-putted.

On the last he also got into trouble with his approach but recovered to give himself a par putt. It did not so much lip out as run around the edge then jump away.

He rolled it in for a bogey. So instead of ending nine-under, which would have been good enough for the Claret Jug, he finished six-under par overall, and alone in third place. "At least I messed it up on the 17th, not the 18th," beamed the man from Tucuman, who was unexpectedly seeking back-to-back majors for his nation following Angel Cabrera's recent US Open win.

"But I guess it might still fall into the Jean Van de Velde category. I certainly wasn't thinking of Van de Velde, so I can't put it down to that. But unfortunately I ended double bogey, bogey, and that's that.

"I feel very pleased with my performance but the pressure certainly caught up with me, and the pressure on those last two holes was massive," he added. "I played a very bad second shot on the 17th and had a lot of bad luck, with that ricochet off the burn and out of bounds. I had a great drive on the 18th and a poor second shot. But in spite of it all, I'm delighted."

Romero does have form in Britain and, indeed, in Scotland. A year ago he finished in a tie for second place at the Open warm-up event at Loch Lomond, which earned him entry to the Open at Royal Liverpool.

And then at Hoylake, in the first major of his career, he ended in a share of eighth place. Romero, no relation to his famous countryman, Eduardo, emerged from the Challenge Tour in 2005. He made a big impression on the 2006 European Tour with four top 10s including that share of second behind Johan Edfors on the "Bonnie Banks".

He finished in 35th position on the Order of Merit before ending the year with a win at the Masters Tournament Personal Cup in his homeland.

He began playing at the age of eight and is coached by his uncle, Miguel Romero. One sacrifice he has made for his golf was giving up his favourite hobby, monocycling, when he turned professional because it was deemed too dangerous a pastime.

Asked whether he had ever played such a mixed round of highs and lows before, his smile said yes before he even began to explain.

"I recall a round in Mar del Plata in Argentina in a tournament there," he laughed. "It was a pretty similar round as this one, so it's happened before. Nine birdies, one eagle. And many bogeys."

And why was he not more upset at letting a major escape him? "I am happy. When the best players in the world are here and I played the tournament I played, I played with the No 2 in the world [Jim Furyk], I felt very comfortable playing with him and I felt I belonged there."

Romero's first blip yesterday after four birdies between the third and eighth holes was a bogey on the ninth. But then came two more two birdies, the second one quite spectacular, holed from the bunker on the left-hand side of the 11th green. Tiger Woods had taken two shots to get clear of the same trap earlier in the day.

Next up was the double bogey on the 12th, which began with a wayward second shot and led to a hunt in the gorse bushes right of the green. Eventually he found a lie for his drop, but his fourth shot was blind.

He got on the green but missed his long putt for bogey and dropped back to five-under. Four straight birdies took him to nine-under, including one sealed with a 26-foot putt on the 16th. His Van de Velde experience lurked round the next corner.

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