Johnson wins thrilling Open

Zach Johnson won the British Open on Monday, emerging victorious from a gripping four-hole playoff against Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman.

It was the 39-year-old American's second major title win after he triumphed at the 2007 Masters.

"It sounds beautiful. It still sounds extremely surreal. The tone to it is very humbling. I feel blessed to be the champion and honoured to be part of the history of this game," Johnson said.

Jordan Spieth, meanwhile, missed getting into the playoff by one shot and thus saw his hopes shattered of becoming just the second player to win the Masters, US and British Opens in the same year.

Johnson, Oosthuizen and Leishman all finished with totals of 15-under 273 after Johnson and Leishman had 66s and Oosthuizen a 69.

That forced the first British Open playoff since Stewart Cink defeated Tom Watson at Turnberry in 2009 and the first three-way playoff since 1999 when Paul Lawrie triumphed.

It was a gripping end to what had been an enthralling day that saw a packed leaderboard go hammer and tongs at grabbing enough birdies to take possession of golf's most coveted trophy on just the second occasion in it's 155-year-long history when it concluded on a Monday.