CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- Jordan Spieth was wounded physically but not mentally after failing to defend his Open title at Carnoustie on Sunday.
His 5-over-par 76 saw him drop out of an overnight three-way tie for the lead into a tie for ninth at 4-under 280, 4 shots behind winner Francesco Molinari.
"I feel fine," Spieth said. "I mean, I've already gone through the frustration. I'm kind of on acceptance now."
Spieth, who suffered a small cut on his finger when he retrieved his ball from a bush on the sixth hole, said he was "very pleased" with his performance this weekend.
"I played patiently," the three-time major champion said. "I put good swings on it. Never got down on myself. Never got angry. I just didn't make a putt today. I hit really good putts, too. My stroke is there. It's back.
"Actually my game all together is back. I've had different parts of every single part of my game being at kind of a low point in my career -- not all at the same time -- but enough to where I haven't really been able to compete. And now it's moving in the right direction. So I'm actually very pleased coming out of this week. Disappointed with not getting the job done, but I'm not going to win every single time.
"My best golf is yet to come, absolutely. Even better than 2015."
Spieth failed to make a birdie in the final round, adding instead three bogeys and a double-bogey, the latter courtesy of that visit to the bush on the par-5 sixth.
"Obviously, I could have played a mid-iron to the middle of the fairway," he said. "But I was trying to take the burn out of the equation by hitting 3 wood to carry it. It was unlucky. It went into the only bush that's over on the right side. If it misses it, I hit the green and have a birdie putt."
Spieth maintained that being put on the clock at the start of the back nine really hurt his chances. He further argued that the course doesn't suit his game.
"I knew coming in that it's probably the worst course for me on the rotation, just given where my misses are," he said. "I'm not making excuses for myself by any means because all I had to do is shoot even par today, and I could certainly do that out here.
"But the greens are slow and they're so flat. I'm an imaginative putter, a feel putter. This week was all straight lines. It's weird."
Spieth also said that the presence of Tiger Woods on the leaderboard is a sign of things to come rather than a flash in the pan.
"This wasn't a fluke," he said. "I think we've seen that throughout the year. And he wouldn't tell you, but he's human, and experiencing that kind of pressure, leading The Open on a Sunday, he's no different than anybody else having not experienced it for so long. He'll come back stronger for sure."