Graeme McDowell finished strongly in the 2005 Open

McDowell managed to put Saturday's quadruple-bogey eight behind him by getting birdies at five of the last seven holes to card a 67.

"That eight hurt me because I knew how close I was to featuring in the top 20 of the leaderboard," said McDowell who ended on a six-under total of 282.

Darren Clarke finished one shot behind McDowell after a closing one-over 73.

McDowell's birdie run started at the 12th where he holed from six feet and at the next he then dropped one from 40 feet.

Another six-footer at the par-five 14th took him to four under before a rolling 20-foot effort at 16 was followed by a two-putt birdie at the last after driving the green.

McDowell did well enough to record his best finish of a short major career.

Paul McGinley had a double-bogey six for a third successive day at the 17th and finished the tournament on one under par.