• The Open, Round Four

Scott defiant despite surrendering title

Graeme McDowell: 'What can you say to Adam Scott?' © PA Photos

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Adam Scott, after he handed the title to Ernie Els with four bogeys in the last four holes: "I managed to hit a poor shot on each of the closing four holes, and that costs you bogey on a course like this. I'm very disappointed but I played so beautifully for most of the week, I shouldn't let this bring me down.

"The bogeys didn't help me at all. I was incredibly calm for most of the round, and still feel calm now. I hit a great shot into the last and felt like I could roll that in and get a few extra holes, but it wasn't to be. That's golf, isn't it?"

Greame McDowell, who played in the final group with Scott but wound up in a tie for fifth at two-under: "What can you say [to Scott]? It was tough to say anything to him that was going to be of any relevance. I said he's a great champion and I said there's many majors ahead for him. It's just a tough beat.

"He struggled on the greens a little bit today, as we all did. The putt on 16 was huge for him, to miss that. He hit a great drive down the middle of 17, and half of England right of that pin, and he missed it left. 18 is a tough tee shot, let's be honest. So he's going to be extremely heartbroken and disappointed, but he's a great, great, great player, and that's what I tried to convey to him on the last green. Like I say, it felt like a futile exercise trying to say anything to him, but I'm sure he's going to be unbelievably disappointed."

Tiger Woods (73, three-under): "Oh, he [Ernie] played beautiful. Look at what he did this entire year, how close he was to winning golf tournaments, what he did right before the Masters trying to get in. And then it's no surprise that he won the golf tournament, but I think the surprise was how it all unfolded. But he did what he needed to do. He went out there and posted the number he needed to post, and he won the golf tournament.

"Overall I'm pleased with the way I played, unfortunately just a couple here and there ended up costing me some momentum, especially today at six [where he had a triple-bogey]. Again, I left a lot of putts short out there. The greens were a little bit slow and I tried to put some more hit in my stroke, but I was just - they were dying off the front of the lip."

Luke Donald (69, two-under): "I take away a lot of positives. I hit it well enough to win. A little disappointing on the greens, I must admit. Even today I had four, five putts that lipped out. It could have been a really special round if it got hot."

Rory McIlroy (73, eight-over): "My game hasn't been there. It was pretty good on the first day but after that I struggled and couldn't find anything. Overall, a disappointing week for me.

"When you try to force it and press things, it just doesn't work. It is hard to make up shots on this golf course."

Lee Westwood (72, six-over): "Well, I made the cut. I didn't have much of a game coming in here, so I didn't expect too much. You certainly need a bit more luck at the Open Championship with the draw. But that didn't really come into play this week.

"That wasn't a factor. Just a few good breaks. Landing in the fairway, sometimes you can land on down slopes, sometimes up slopes, it can make 60, 70 yards of difference being in the fairway, being in the trap. It's probably the hardest of the four to win."

Paul Lawrie (75, four-over): "Thursday I putted beautifully, so it's a bit weird. I just holed nothing out there, it is so disappointing. Frustrated would be an understatement. I've hit the ball this week, not as good as I can, but extremely well. Had I been top-10, I think it would have been fair enough."

Rickie Fowler (70, three-over): "Finally got to play in the wind - I loved it. I just love playing over here. I love links golf. I love the way it sets up for my game. I love playing in the wind, getting to hit different shots on the ground or in the air. Just a lot of fun to me over here so I enjoy it. Like last year I had a chance. I was in the second-to-last group. And just didn't get off to the start we wanted this week and just had a few too many mistakes."

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