Carnoustie "Jumped up and bit me" - Coltart

Andrew Coltart had in his sights the best round of the year. Not just by himself, but by anybody in the world of golf.

But that was before Carnoustie, in his words, "jumped up and bit me."

Two under par after 14 holes and leader of the Open, he dropped five strokes in the last four holes for a 74.

It was still a score the 29-year-old Scot would have taken before the start. But that, of course, was overshadowed by the feeling of what might have been.

"I'm pretty cheesed off," said Coltart, brother-in-law of Lee Westwood. "That finish was pretty poor. But I'm not the first to do that and I won't be the last."

He actually had a putt to go three under at the 15th, but three-putted from 40 feet there and from 25 feet at the next, then from deep rough off the 17th tee hacked into the Barry Burn only 30 yards away.

A double bogey six was the result of that and when he missed from five feet at the last his name had disappeared altogether from the leaderboard.

"It's nearly impossible conditions," he said. "That's the only way to describe it without using a couple of dodgy words."

Asked what the consensus opinion of the players was, he thought long and hard, not wanting to land himself in trouble, and answered: "It's harder than anybody expected.

"I reckon a sub-par round out there would be the best round of the year."

And this in a season which has seen David Duval shoot 59, Tiger Woods 61 and Sergio Garcia two 62s.

"Mentally and physically it's so draining. It's a constant mental battle trying to be strong over the next shot no matter how many you've just taken.

"On the 15th tee I was in a fantastic position, but I tried not to get ahead of myself and tried to knuckle down. But it jumped up and bit me."

To get to two under Coltart, chasing hard for a Ryder Cup debut this year - he currently lies 11th, with the top 10 to qualify automatically in a month's time - had overcome a bogey at the fifth by hitting a six-iron to three feet on the eighth, eight-iron to 10 feet at the 10th and then two-putting the long downwind 14th.

All he had to cheer himself up after the sad finish was to look at the complete horror tales of others. He is still in the hunt for the Open.