McDowell - could have been very close.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell had the honour of setting the clubhouse lead on the final day of the Open at St Andrews and, but for an aberration at the 17th on Saturday, felt he could have been in contention.

The Portrush golfer was in the fearsome Road Bunker from where he thinned his recovery across the green and into the wall over the road and ended up taking a quadruple-bogey eight.

He recovered sufficiently well to recover as, after going out in level par after a birdie at the par-five fifth cancelled out a three-putt at the third, he came home in just 31.

That left him five under par for his round of 67, six under for the tournament, with leader Tiger Woods having just teed off at 12 under.

McDowell knew he had a low score in him but surprised even himself on how well he did after the turn.

"I didn't even realise how low I'd shot on the back nine until I had got in," he admitted.

"It is nice to have a back nine like that and finish as strongly as I did.

"It is just another day where I've played pretty solid. I feel like I have played great all week. I've been happy in general with my performance.

"If you take out that eight I made on 17 yesterday and I'm right back in this golf tournament.

"I'd pretty much let the eight on 17 go. It was painful for a couple of hours. It was hurting me because I knew how close I was to featuring in the top 20 of the leaderboard.

"However, a couple of pints of Guinness last night soon took the pain way.

"That 67 today really helped me forget about it. You can't have ifs and buts - if I wouldn't have made eight yesterday what would I have come out and done today - who knows?

"I'm just happy I was able to stay pretty positive despite what happened yesterday and play well today."

McDowell's birdie run started at the 12th where he holed from six feet and at the next he then dropped one from 40 feet.

Another six-footer at the par-five 14th took him to four under before a rolling 20-foot effort at 16 was followed by a two-putt birdie at the last after driving the green.

McDowell did well enough to record his best finish in a short major career - this was his fifth - and he felt the current level of his game and his knowledge of the Old Course had contributed significantly to that.

"I feel like I'm in position to do very well. I like this golf course. I have been looking forward to this for a few months now," said the 25-year-old.

"I feel like I have made some breakthroughs with my golf swing this week. I'm back to hitting it how I need to hit it and I'm driving it better."