Tiger Woods has insisted that he is not worried by the fact that he has not won a major title since 2008.

The 36-year-old had looked to be firmly in contention for a fourth Open Championship win, until a triple bogey on the sixth hole of his final round blew his chances.

"It's part of golf. We all go through these phases - some people it lasts entire careers, others are a little bit shorter," said Woods. "Even the greatest players to ever play have all gone through little stretches like this.

"When your playing careers last 40 and 50 years you're going to have stretches like this. I was right there, the game plan was to shoot under par going out so I was in position to do what I wanted to do and then turn home and shoot maybe one or two under on the back nine.

"I would have posted an eight or nine under par and I thought that was going to be the number to win the golf tournament. Unfortunately I just didn't do it."

Woods, who has 14 major triumphs to his name, finished joint-third at Royal Lytham, four shots behind winner Ernie Els.