Monty still finds reasons to dream
While Montgomerie claimed he could take many positives from the occasion, not least the feeling that he can still challenge for a major championship provided the breaks go his way, Woods had to face up to the fact that he is still without a major title since the 2002 US Open.
And while he finished in a tie for 9th on three under par, he was never a factor where winning was concerned as the leaders came down the stretch. As for Mickelson, third place after winning at Augusta and coming in second at Shinnecock Hills means that he has fully regained his status as one of the game's finest having gone through a bad time in 2003.
"I felt if the golfing gods were with me today that I would have won," claimed Montgomerie in spite of the fact that he crashed to a last round 76 having shot 69, 69 and 72 in the previous three days.
"Unfortunately, they weren't. I got off to a reasonable start, one under par after four as I had to be, and then I found a few divots and a few putts didn't drop.
"The turning point was the 8th, I hit a great birdie putt there, but it didn't go in. Two bogeys at the 9th and 10th holes with difficult pin placements stopped me completely.
"It was a wonderful, wonderful experience. The crowds were terrific but it was not to be. I knew I had to score seven under, something like that, but we'll keep trying. We'll plug away. We'll come back next year and try again. There are a lot of positives for me from this. It just didn't go my way today. If that putt at the 8th had gone in, you'd have seen a different back nine (he took 40)."
Woods's face tightens visibly once the world "slump" is mentioned and given that he is invariably up there around the top ten whenever he plays, it probably is a little harsh.
But a lot more than that is expected of the man widely trumpeted two years ago as a certainty to surpass Jack Nicklaus's haul of eighteen majors. The way things are going, the Golden Bear has nothing to worry about. The spark has gone from Woods's game and it's been largely that way ever since he parted from his coach Butch Harmon.
"I had a chance this week and felt like I could really have won this tournament," Woods claimed. "I should be pretty happy about that. I will have to take a look at where I went wrong, the mistakes I made and rectify them before the next tournament. I didn't make any high numbers but I didn't make a lot of birdies either. I missed a couple of shots on the wrong sides of the greens and on links courses, you just can't shortside yourself.
"If you do so, you are not going to get the job done because the greens are just too hard and too fast. It was a tough course but it was fair. It was perfect and all of us who played thoroughly enjoyed it."
Mickelson, as always, was a sporting loser and he certainly departed with his head held high.
His indifference at missing the cut the week before in Loch Lomond lives in the back of the mind, but the Scottish crowds have already forgiven him for that. Only Montgomerie got a better reception.
"I love this tournament," he enthused. "I haven't played well in the past (his previous best finish was 11th at St Andrews in 2000) but I've been working hard on the shots that are required over here. I feel I executed them well. I'm looking forward to next year at St Andrews. I love that course. It's a wonderful test of golf. It's a little disappointing to fall short here but it's also very encouraging to know I'm able to contend in this great championship.
"I certainly had my breaks this week. At the 15th on Saturday, I hit a guy on the leg when I thought it was out of bounds. I just didn't have enough birdies. To miss out by a shot is certainly disappointing.
"After the opening 73, I felt it would take a lot to get into contention and I played three very good rounds, making only one bogey, and I was very proud of that. But I didn't make enough birdies.
"What Todd and Ernie did is really incredible. It's a very difficult cross wind to get the ball close to the holes the way they did to make birdies."
And then he came out with a remarkable confession: "I was just playing for pars on the way back and thought shooting even par was going to be good enough."
That mindset, rather than any shortage of birdies, may well have cost him his first Open Championship.
274 T Hamilton (USA) 71 67 67 69, E Els (Rsa) 69 69 68 68 (Hamilton wins after 4 hole play-off)
275 P Mickelson (USA) 73 66 68 68
278 L Westwood 72 71 68 67
279 D Love III (USA) 72 69 71 67, T Levet (Fra) 66 70 71 72
280 S Verplank 69 70 70 71
281 M Weir (Can) 71 68 71 71, T Woods (USA) 70 71 68 72
282 D Clarke (Irl) 69 72 73 68, M Calcavecchia (USA) 72 73 69 68, S Kendall (USA) 69 66 75 72
283 S Cink 72 71 71 69, B Lane 69 68 71 75
284 J Haeggman (Swe) 69 73 72 70, J Leonard (USA) 70 72 71 71, K Perry (USA) 69 70 73 72, KJ Choi (Kor) 68 69 74 73
285 V Singh (Fij) 68 70 76 71, G Evans 68 73 73 71, B Estes (USA) 73 72 69 71, P Casey 66 77 70 72, M Campbell (Nzl) 67 71 74 73
286 I Poulter 71 72 71 72, C Montgomerie 69 69 72 76
287 J Randhawa (Ind) 73 72 70 72, R Pampling (Aus) 72 68 74 73, T Kamiyama (Jpn) 70 73 71 73
288 S Maruyama (Jpn) 71 72 74 71, D Toms (USA) 71 71 74 72, B Van Pelt (USA) 72 71 71 74, K Fukabori (Jpn) 73 71 70 74, M O'Meara (USA) 71 74 68 75, N Price (Zim) 71 71 69 77
289 S Lowery (USA) 69 73 75 72, T Van Der Walt (Rsa) 70 73 72 74, S Appleby (Aus) 71 70 73 75, H Mahan (USA) 74 69 71 75, T Hiratsuka (Jpn) 70 74 70 75, K Felton (Aus) 73 67 72 77
290 C Howell III (USA) 75 70 72 73, A Scott (Aus) 73 68 74 75, K Ferrie 68 74 73 75, A Oldcorn 73 70 71 76, T Immelman (Rsa) 69 74 71 76
291 A Forsyth 68 74 79 70, J Kelly (USA) 75 70 73 73, M Gronberg (Swe) 70 74 73 74, M Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 71 71 75, S Whiffin 73 72 71 75, P Bradshaw 75 67 72 77, S Micheel (USA) 70 72 70 79
292 R Jacquelin (Fra) 72 72 73 75, I Garrido 71 74 72 75, S Flesch (USA) 75 70 70 77
293 P McGinley (Irl) 69 76 75 73, C Pettersson (Swe) 68 77 74 74, J Kingston (Rsa) 73 72 74 74
294 G Emerson 70 71 76 77, P Broadhurst 71 74 72 77, B Faxon (USA) 74 68 73 79
296 C DiMarco (USA) 71 71 78 76, (x) S Wilson 68 75 77 76, M Foster 71 72 76 77
297 M Olander (Swe) 68 74 78 77, R Sabbatini (R) 71 72 73 81
298 P Wesselingh 73 72 76 77, M Erlandsson (Sw) 73 70 77 78
299 B Tway (USA) 67 68 73 82
300 R Beem (USA) 69 73 77 81, C Cevaer (Fra) 70 74 74 82
303 S Lyle 70 73 81 79.
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