Day has played inconsistently and enters the weekend at one over.
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Phil Mickelson of the United States, right, shakes hands with Henrik Stenson of Sweden, on the 18th green after they completed their third round of the British Open Golf Championships at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, Saturday, July 16, 2016. It was less a conclusion of their head-to-head pairing than an adjournment.
That gave him a one-stroke advantage over Mickelson, who had been in front after the first two rounds but was overtaken after shooting a one-under 70 to sit at 11-under overall. He will attempt to become the first Swedish male golfer ever to win a major. But to do so, he will need to outlast an all-time great who is putting on a vintage performance.
“It would be big outside the golfing community”, Stenson said.
“The sun will come up on Monday anyway, hopefully”, added Stenson, philosophically.
Then, with just a hint of a pause, he deadpanned, “Maybe not in Scotland, but in other parts of the world”.
Winning at Muirfield in 2013 gave Mickelson his first British Open. The South Korean player won the season opener in the Bahamas for her third career title. What he won’t have is the benefit of the lead. Two holes later, Mickelson was in danger of losing the lead when he pushed his 2-iron toward trouble and was fortunate the ball deflected off a piece of prickly gorse.
“I was hoping to gain a little and the way it turned out I gained quite a lot”, said world number six Stenson after firing seven birdies.
“I really felt like I needed to shoot something in the mid 60s today to have a shot going into tomorrow”.
Throughout this week, Mickelson has appeared wholly unburdened by what he is trying to accomplish.
After turning 40 in April, Stenson admitted time was running out in his bid for a maiden major, especially after failing to challenge in any of the last six and withdrawing from last month’s US Open due to injury. Moments before the start of his round Saturday, he stood behind the first tee box, looked around and smiled for several seconds.
Mickelson had earlier survived terrible tee shots at the extremely tough 11th and 12th holes to rescue a pair of par-fours, and he then made birdie at the 13th.
In a head to head with Stenson that went to and fro Saturday, Mickelson shot 1-under 70 for his third straight round under par. The 49-year-old Toms was 4 under for the day with four holes left.
“The game of golf, it just comes and goes”, Mickelson said. I found a way to get the ball in the hole, make pars, and that’s all that I really care about. “But as of now, I would pretty much think it’s a battle of Phil and myself”. “Some days it’s hard and it looks bad, like it did today”.
Stenson began the day one stroke behind Mickelson, who opened the tournament with a record-tying 63.
Stenson had his third straight round in the 60s – no one has ever won at Royal Troon with all four rounds in the 60s – and was at 12-under 201.
Despite the fact that third-placed American Bill Haas is five shots adrift of Mickelson and six behind Stenson, the left-hander does not believe Sunday’s closing round will turn into a match play situation between the top two.
McIlroy had just hit a wayward shot on the par-5 16th hole when he slammed the club in anger, using a tomahawk motion that saw the club hit the ground in front of him and break.
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Mickelson was soaked when he walked off the course, though he managed to get in eight holes Friday morning before the rain arrived.
