Tiger Woods' major drought continues

Tiger Woods on the fifth green during the final round of the 2013 Open Championship. / Paul Cunningham, USA TODAY Sports

GULLANE, Scotland - Tiger Woods' drought continues.

Woods will remain stuck on 14 majors as his winless streak in the game's biggest tournaments now stands at 17, dating to the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

Though he began the day at 1 under par, two back of Lee Westwood, he never really was a factor as Phil Mickelson came from five shots down to claim his first British Open title.

"I had a hard time adjusting to the speeds," Woods said of the greens following his final-round 3-over 74 that left him at 2 over par, tied for sixth and five shots behind Mickelson. "They were much slower today, much softer. I don't think I got too many putts to the hole today. I really had a hard time and left myself a couple of long lag putts early on when it was really blowing, and left them way short and didn't make those putts. I didn't really play that poorly. I hit a couple of bad shots at 10, 11, that was about it and at 3. But other than that I really hit the ball well today. I just couldn't ever get the pace of these things."

Woods opened with a bogey and had two three-putts in the first five holes and made bogeys at 1 and 4.

"I'm very pleased with the way I'm playing, there's no doubt," Woods said. "I'm right there and I hit a ton of good shots this week, and the only thing that I would look back on this week is I just never got the speed after the first day, because it progressively got slower."

After a slow start, Woods got back to 1 over after birdies at 12 and 14, but he never got closer, and would have been unlikely to get to Mickelson's winning number, 3 under par.

"If (Mickelson) would have posted (1 under) it would have been a different story," Woods said. "I think a lot of us would be a little more ticked than we are now. But he posted 3. That's a hell of a number."

Woods said he will take a week off, then return Aug. 1-4 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone. His next chance to end the drought comes at the Aug. 8-11 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

"I've won 14 and in that spell where I haven't won since Torrey, I've been in there," Woods said. "It's not like I've lost my card and not playing out here. So I've won some tournaments in that stretch, and I've been in probably about half the majors on the back nine on Sunday with a chance to win during that stretch. I just haven't done it yet. And hopefully it will be in a few weeks."

The all-time leader in majors, Jack Nicklaus, won the 15th of his 18 at age 38 in his 67th major. Woods is 37, and this British Open was his 63rd majors.

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