Padraig Harrington was left to rue a cold putter as he racked up his best finish in The Open since 2015.
The Dubliner (52) closed with a one-over 72 to finish tied 22nd on four-over.
“I got tentative on the greens, couldn’t hole the putts and that kind of lost momentum,” said Harrington, who got into the top 10 following birdies at the first and seventh but bogeyed the ninth, 11th and 12th to slip back.
“I think I made nine birdies in the week, which if you struggle, you need to hole at least a few of these putts to see the upside at times.
“Look, the game was great in places. I have been putting well. Excited about the rest of the year.”
Harrington returns to the scene of his 2007 Open win in this week’s Senior Open at Carnoustie but knows he will have to putt better to have a chance.
“It will be a different sort of challenge, I’m sure,” he said. “But I need to make more than nine birdies. Ultimately, I created plenty of chances, and I only made nine birdies this week.
“Maybe early on I just didn’t hole the putts, as I said, and that kind of crept in. I didn’t seem to hit my putts with much confidence for the rest of the week, which is a pity.”
Harrington will be joined at Carnoustie by Darren Clarke, who is contemplating saying goodbye to The Open at Royal Portrush next year, where he expects the “conundrum” that is Rory McIlroy to be a factor.
McIlroy missed the cut at Royal Troon and admitted he simply wasn’t able to handle the wind.
And Clarke, who was surprised to see the Holywood star struggle, admitted the world number two is a complete “conundrum” given his talent.
“Rory’s got every shot so of course he is capable of playing links golf in the wind,” Clarke said after closing with a 75 alongside fellow Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin to finish tied 75th on 15-over.
“I played with Rory and Tom and Matt Wallace on Tuesday and in all my years, it’s the best I’ve ever seen a golf ball being struck. In all my years, I’ve never seen it compressed and hit with that ball flight.
“He’s a conundrum because he has God-given town pouring out of him. You know, you’re Irish. You want to see him do everything. We all support him.
“You just want to see him win what we think he deserves to win. And, he deserves more. So we shall see.”
As for his thoughts of saying goodbye to The Open at Royal Portrush next year, Clarke said: “Yes, I made the cut here, and if I make the cut in Portrush, it will be great and all that sort of stuff.
“But I’ve got my name on the Jug, and I have my name on the Senior Jug, and I would feel bad taking the spot away from a young kid.
“I was a young kid once, so to take a spot away from a young kid who may fulfil his dream of playing the Championship, sure, I’ve done mine. I don’t know what I will do.
“I’m 55 now, and I’ll be 56 next year and it may be my last one and thank you very much, that’s enough for me and I can give some young kid an opportunity that I had whenever I was starting off.”
Clarke was delighted to play all four rounds at Royal Troon, and he was seriously impressed by McKibbin (21), who has now made the cut in his first two majors, closing with a 74 to finish tied 66th on 12-over having tied for 41st on his debut in last month’s US Open.
“Yeah, brilliant,” Clarke said of McKibbin. “Tom’s got a huge future.”
McKibbin, who looks likely to win his PGA TOUR card via the Race to Dubai, was not doing cartwheels over his performance at Troon.
“Yeah, very average probably,” he said after rounds of 73, 72, 77 and 74. “I was all right. Two good rounds, a decent round and a pretty terrible round, but overall it was all right.”