Tiger Woods left the Open without the trophy he wanted, but with words of praise for Royal Troon.

By finishing a disappointing ninth, seven strokes behind shock winner Todd Hamilton, Woods' run of majors without a win reached nine - back to the 2002 US Open.

But the world number one said: "The course was tough, but fair. A perfect course all week and I think that every one of us who played this week thoroughly enjoyed it.

"I missed a couple of shots on the wrong side of the greens and on links courses you can't short-side yourself. You're not going to get the job done because the greens are just too hard and too fast.

"I felt like I played well, but I just made too many mistakes. I didn't make any high numbers, but I didn't make a lot of birdies either.

"I had a chance and felt like I really could have won this tournament. I should be pretty happy about that, but obviously I didn't win so I will have to take a look at where I went wrong, the mistakes I made and rectify them before the next tournament."

That ninth place was enough to ensure Woods extended his reign of almost five years at the top of the rankings.

But with Els second in both the Masters and Open this year and Phil Mickelson first, second and third in the first three majors of the season, the gap is closing fast.

For Mickelson it was a first-ever top-10 finish in the Open and he said: "I love this tournament and to miss by a shot is certainly disappointing.

"But I didn't feel like it was a lost chance. What Todd and Ernie did is really incredible - to get the birdies they did was very impressive.

"I'm looking forward to St Andrews next year. I love that course and it's a wonderful test of golf. It's very encouraging to know I'm able to contend in this great championship."