CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) — Francesco Molinari didn’t get the loudest cheers for the best golf at British Open.
He was overlooked for so much of Sunday playing alongside Tiger Woods, who caused pure pandemonium at Carnoustie by taking the lead in the final round of a major for the first time in nine years.
Molinari settled for the best cheer of them all.
The last one.
Amid so much chaos — seven players atop the leaderboard, six of them still tied on the back nine — Molinari played a steady hand by going the entire weekend without a bogey and finishing with a 5-foot birdie putt that secured his place in history as Italy’s first major champion.
“Clearly, in my group, the attention wasn’t really on me, let’s put it that way,” Molinari said, the gleaming claret jug in front of him. “If someone was expecting a charge, they probably weren’t expecting it from me. But it’s been the same the whole of my career.”
His charge was a 2-under 69 in the strongest wind of the week, the only player from the last four groups to break par.
Woods lost the lead with one bad swing that would have been even farther left of the 11th green had it not crashed into the fans, leading to double bogey. He followed that with a bogey and never caught up. He had to settle for a 71.
Jordan Spieth, tied for the lead in his bid to go back-to-back in the British Open, failed to make a single birdie and shot 76, his highest score Sunday in a major.
Kevin Chappell made two double bogeys, the last one on No. 17 that derailed his hopes. Kevin Kisner made his double bogey early. Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose each made a run with eagles on the par-5 14th hole, McIlroy with a 50-foot putt , Rose with a second shot that bounced off the base of the pin. They ran out of holes.
Xander Schauffele, the last hope to keep alive the American streak of five straight majors, was one shot behind until he sent a long iron to the right of the 17th and failed to make a 15-foot putt for par.
Molinari clinched it with a driver that skirted the edge of a pot bunker, leaving him a lob wedge from 112 yards to 5 feet. He poured it in, raised his right fist and shook it lightly before slamming it for emphasis.
Then, he waited in the trailer to see if anyone could catch him. At one point, he went over to the practice green, but not to prepare for a playoff.
“I probably would have felt sick watching on TV,” he said.
Molinari finished at 8-under 276, the lowest score in eight Opens at Carnoustie, the course where Jean Van de Velde threw away the British Open with a triple bogey on the last hole in 1999, where Padraig Harrington twice hit into Barry Burn on the last hole to make double bogey and still won.
“Just disbelief, to be honest,” the 35-year-old said. “To go the weekend bogey-free, it’s unthinkable. Playing with Tiger was another challenge. But I felt really good this morning. I felt I was ready for the challenge.”
Woods had every reason to believe he would cap a most improbable comeback from four back surgeries.
His red shirt blazing against the yellow grass of a dry Scottish summer, Woods hit driver into the wind on the par-4 fourth to set up birdie. Into the wind on the par-5 sixth, three deep bunkers to the right and out-of-bounds to the left, he got to the front of the green with a driver and a 3-wood for another birdie.
And just like the Woods of old, the players he was chasing started to collapse.
Spieth gambled with a shot to clear the burn on No. 6 and went into a gorse bush, making double bogey. Schauffele chopped up the next hole for double bogey.
Woods had the lead.
And then he lost it with two bad holes. Still in range, he couldn’t get close enough for a birdie when it mattered. It was the first time since the 2007 U.S. Open that he trailed going into the final round of a major, had the lead and didn’t win.
His anger over his mistakes was tempered by perspective, comparing it to Serena Williams losing in the finals at Wimbledon.
“The beginning of the year, if they’d have said, ‘You’re playing The Open Championship,’ I would have said I’d be very lucky to do that. Serena and I are good friends. I’m sure she’ll probably call me and talk to me about it because you’ve got to put things in perspective. … I know that it’s going to sting for a little bit here, but given where I was to where I’m at now, blessed.”
It might sting even worse for Spieth. One day after a bogey-free round of 65 to share the lead, he had a birdie-free round at the worst time. His best chance was at the 14th, where he three-putted for par from about 40 feet.
“When you put yourself in position enough times, it goes your way sometimes, it doesn’t go your way sometimes,” Spieth said, who goes to the PGA Championship in three weeks for a chance at the career Grand Slam.
The victory adds to Molinari’s best stretch of golf.
Now at a career-best No. 6 in the world, he has won three times and been runner-up twice in his last six tournaments. One of those was three weeks ago at the Quicken Loans National when he shot 62 in the final round and Woods, the tournament host, presented him the trophy.
This round wasn’t flashy, and neither is Molinari. He saved par with 8-foot putts on the 12th and 13th, two of the most pivotal putts all day.
But not the most memorable.
“That putt on the last, I’ll never forget,” he said.

British Open Scores
Sunday
At Royal & Ancient Golf Club
Carnoustie, Scotland
Purse: $10.5 million
Yardage: 7,402; Par: 71
Final
a-amateur
Francesco Molinari (600), $1,890,000 70-72-65-69 — 276
Kevin Kisner (203), $694,250 66-70-68-74 — 278
Rory McIlroy (203), $694,250 69-69-70-70 — 278
Justin Rose (203), $694,250 72-73-64-69 — 278
Xander Schauffele (203), $694,250 71-66-67-74 — 278
Kevin Chappell (101), $327,000 70-69-67-73 — 279
Eddie Pepperell, $327,000 71-70-71-67 — 279
Tiger Woods (101), $327,000 71-71-66-71 — 279
Tony Finau (82), $219,000 67-71-71-71 — 280
Matt Kuchar (82), $219,000 70-68-70-72 — 280
Jordan Spieth (82), $219,000 72-67-65-76 — 280
Patrick Cantlay (65), $154,500 70-71-70-70 — 281
Tommy Fleetwood (65), $154,500 72-65-71-73 — 281
Ryan Moore (65), $154,500 68-73-69-71 — 281
Thorbjxrn Olesen, $154,500 70-70-70-71 — 281
Webb Simpson (65), $154,500 70-71-67-73 — 281
Jason Day (51), $109,714 71-71-72-68 — 282
Charley Hoffman (51), $109,714 71-70-68-73 — 282
Zach Johnson (51), $109,714 69-67-72-74 — 282
Alex Noren (51), $109,714 70-71-67-74 — 282
Pat Perez (51), $109,714 69-68-74-71 — 282
Erik van Rooyen, $109,714 67-71-71-73 — 282
Adam Scott (51), $109,714 71-70-68-73 — 282
Stewart Cink (39), $84,000 72-70-71-70 — 283
Bernhard Langer (39), $84,000 73-71-68-71 — 283
Phil Mickelson (39), $84,000 73-69-70-71 — 283
Danny Willett, $84,000 69-71-70-73 — 283
Austin Cook (30), $67,143 72-70-67-75 — 284
Rickie Fowler (30), $67,143 70-69-73-72 — 284
Louis Oosthuizen (30), $67,143 72-70-69-73 — 284
Thomas Pieters (30), $67,143 70-73-70-71 — 284
Patrick Reed (30), $67,143 75-70-68-71 — 284
Julian Suri, $67,143 74-69-70-71 — 284
Chris Wood, $67,143 70-74-66-74 — 284
Adam Hadwin (22), $53,750 73-70-71-71 — 285
Michael Kim (22), $53,750 73-69-69-74 — 285
Satoshi Kodaira (22), $53,750 72-71-68-74 — 285
Henrik Stenson (22), $53,750 70-75-71-69 — 285
Cameron Davis, $41,375 71-72-73-70 — 286
Ross Fisher (15), $41,375 75-70-68-73 — 286
Ryan Fox, $41,375 74-71-71-70 — 286
Masahiro Kawamura, $41,375 77-67-71-71 — 286
Brooks Koepka (15), $41,375 72-69-75-70 — 286
HaoTong Li, $41,375 71-72-67-76 — 286
Luke List (15), $41,375 70-70-77-69 — 286
Kyle Stanley (15), $41,375 72-69-69-76 — 286
Sean Crocker, $31,000 71-71-69-76 — 287
Tom Lewis, $31,000 75-70-68-74 — 287
Yusaku Miyazato, $31,000 71-74-65-77 — 287
Brendan Steele (10), $31,000 68-76-73-70 — 287
Byeong Hun An (7), $27,161 73-71-66-78 — 288
Paul Casey (7), $27,161 73-71-72-72 — 288
Bryson DeChambeau (7), $27,161 75-70-73-70 — 288
Jason Dufner (7), $27,161 75-70-68-75 — 288
Tyrrell Hatton (7), $27,161 74-71-72-71 — 288
Lucas Herbert, $27,161 73-69-69-77 — 288
Yuta Ikeda, $27,161 70-73-71-74 — 288
Kevin Na (7), $27,161 70-73-73-72 — 288
Shubhankar Sharma, $27,161 73-71-71-73 — 288
Marc Leishman (6), $25,800 72-72-69-76 — 289
Gavin Kyle Green, $25,317 72-73-71-74 — 290
Marcus Kinhult, $25,317 74-69-71-76 — 290
Shaun Norris, $25,317 74-68-69-79 — 290
Brett Rumford, $25,317 74-70-72-74 — 290
Brandon Stone, $25,317 68-72-73-77 — 290
Lee Westwood, $25,317 72-72-69-77 — 290
Paul Dunne, $24,250 71-73-73-74 — 291
Rhys Enoch, $24,250 74-71-70-76 — 291
Sung Kang (3), $24,250 69-72-72-78 — 291
Si Woo Kim (3), $24,250 71-72-75-73 — 291
Zander Lombard, $24,250 67-71-71-82 — 291
Matthew Southgate, $24,250 69-72-73-77 — 291
Gary Woodland (3), $24,250 71-72-72-76 — 291
Rafa Cabrera Bello (3), $23,675 74-70-76-72 — 292
Kiradech Aphibarnrat, $23,488 74-71-74-74 — 293
Beau Hossler (3), $23,488 73-70-77-73 — 293
a-Sam Locke 72-73-70-78 — 293
Cameron Smith (2), $23,300 73-71-73-77 — 294
Keegan Bradley (2), $23,175 74-71-73-77 — 295