GULLANE, Scotland — Adam Scott's collapse in the final round at the British Open wasn't nearly as spectacular as it was a year ago.
The end result was still the same.
For the second year in a row Scott held the lead on the back nine; for the second year in a row he left without his name on the claret jug.
Even the green jacket he won in between at the Masters couldn't ease the sting of this one.
"I think the disappointing thing is this one I felt I wasted a little bit," Scott said Sunday. "I would have liked to be in at the end and no one was, actually. It's a shame."
No one was because Phil Mickelson closed so strongly he likely would have won the Open no matter what Scott or any of his fellow competitors did. But three straight bogeys on the back nine sealed the fate of the Masters champion, eliminating him from contention before he even had a shot at making a late run.
"I let a great chance slip, I felt, during the middle of the round and that's disappointing," Scott said. "Had I played a little more solid in the middle of that back nine I could have had a chance coming in."
Playing in the next-to-last group with Tiger Woods, Scott made a run at the lead when he sank a long putt on the eighth hole for birdie, then followed it with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 ninth. When he added yet another birdie on the short par-4 11th he was suddenly in the lead with seven holes to go.