Early mistakes cost Jordan Spieth and Louis Oosthuizen on Sunday at The Open Championship

SANDWICH, England – A couple of mistakes on the front nine in the final round at Royal St. George’s ultimately proved too much to overcome for Jordan Spieth and Louis Oosthuizen at The 149th Open.

As Collin Morikawa created history by becoming the first player to win two different majors at his first attempt, former Open champions Spieth (2017) and Oosthuizen (2010) could only ruminate on what may have been.

Overnight leader Oosthuizen added to his runner up finishes at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open with a T3 finish after a disappointing 1-over 73 on Sunday. The South African was disconsolate afterwards and the almost always accommodating 38-year-old declined to talk to media as he left the course.

A bogey on the fourth hole came after a loose approach missed the green and his chip rolled out past the pin, allowing Morikawa to join him in top spot. But the killer blow came three holes later.

Looking to attack the par-5 seventh hole – which played the easiest of the round – Oosthuizen pushed his approach shot into a greenside bunker. From there he knifed the ball across the green into another sand trap before being unable to get up and down for par.

The bogey, coupled with a Morikawa routine birdie, saw him two shots in arrears. Sensing the opening, Morikawa birdied the next two holes as well to make the turn four up on his playing partner. Oosthuizen wouldn’t get closer than three the rest of the way.

Since his lone PGA TOUR win at the 2010 Open, Oosthuizen now has six major runner ups, and a PLAYERS runner up plus this third place finish. He has eight further top-5 finishes in World Golf Championship and FedExCup Playoff events.

He had a supporter in Morikawa.

“When I watch him play and hit his drives, I'm like, Wow, I want to hit it like that. Yeah, Louis is consistent, he really is. He's going to keep knocking at these doors, and I'm sure he's going to knock a few more down,” Morikawa said. “He's just too good. He just had an unlucky break on 7. We were in the middle of the fairway and he makes bogey.”

For Spieth, bogeys on the fourth and sixth holes stung hard before the Texan rallied with an eagle and four birdies over his last 12 holes to shoot 66. Ultimately he would finish two back, meaning it was the third round finish that was on his mind.

Spieth closed bogey-bogey on Saturday, including a three-putt from 20-feet, that made all the difference.

“It's hard to be upset when I was a couple over through six today. I couldn't have really done much more after that point. But the finish yesterday, was about as upset as I've taken a finish of a round to the house,” Spieth said.

“I walked in and I said, Is there something that I can break? I knew that was so important because I would have been in the final group. I'm upset because I really felt like I played well enough to win and made a couple of really dumb mistakes that possibly, if I had maybe played the week before, wouldn't have made.”

Spieth said he stewed on the mishaps for a few hours that included sprinting from the 18th to the practice putting green and spending a lengthy session with his coach. He also took his putter to his rental house to practice more.

“What was frustrating was the separation it would have been. It would have been three of us separated by at least three shots from the field and I would have been in the final group,” Spieth added.

“So it was kind of a double whammy there where you feel like you're not worried about someone going low behind you as much and you feel in control when you're in the final group.”

Spieth is projected to move to second place in the FedExCup with Oosthuizen slated to move into the TOUR TOP 10 at ninth spot.