He also would be the third-oldest major champion behind Julius Boros (48) and Morris, with whom Mickelson shares a birthday (June 16) 149 years apart. Even so, he came up with the right shots at the right time until Stenson passed him late in the afternoon.
Advertisement
McIlroy had just hit a wayward shot on the par-5 16th hole of The Open when he slammed the club in anger, using a tomahawk motion that saw the club hit the ground in front of him and break.
Stenson roared ahead of overnight leader Mickelson early on as he birdied three of the opening four holes on Saturday. Phil Mickelson is still dreaming of becoming the oldest victor of the British Open in the modern era despite describing his third-round performance as “terrible”, “awful” and “jumpy” yesterday. “I’m playing really nicely and I know Phil will not back off, he is one of the finest players to have played in the last 50 years but I’m right where I want to be”.
“I made one or two bad swings that led to bogeys but for the most part kept the ball in play and played kind of stress-free golf. I need to get off to a fast start tomorrow [Saturday] and I’m going to need something around 30 to get back up the leaderboard”.
Bill Haas, in third place but six shots behind Stenson, is the closest player to gate-crashing the showdown. I’ve missed four putts maybe inside of five feet today – a couple from two feet.
He duly capitalised by getting another par and then rolled in a 25-footer on the 13th to stretch his lead to two.
“I can’t remember. Actually, the eighth hole at Augusta I shanked one”, he sheepishly said.
Mickelson had been left cursing the “golfing gods” after his birdie putt to shoot the first 62 in major history lipped out on Thursday, but received a massive stroke of luck on the 12th. The two dueled all day on Saturday as Stenson took a slight advantage despite some miraculous play by Mickelson to start the back nine. He had to settle for an even-par 71 and was eight shots behind, along with U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson (69).
McIlroy has form for throwing his clubs, having launched his three iron into a lake at Doral during the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March previous year – for which he told Press Association Sport he was fined £3,700, having escaped a greater sanction after apologising.
Mickelson is looking to win the Open for the second time following his victory at Muirfield, on the other side of Scotland, in 2013.
McIlroy’s frustration had clearly been building as he plodded through a mediocre round that ended his chances of making a run at his second Open title.
Most impressive was Mickelson’s save on the par-4 12, after his tee shot with a 2-iron received a good kick off the gorse. Stenson is striping the ball with his irons and with how pure he’s hitting it he’s been able to handle the wind better than anyone else in the field. “I’m just going to try my hardest to keep him behind”. And, whilst some, among them Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, struggled to get their heads around the slow pace of the greens, Stenson remained cool and collected to reach the 54-holes mark on 12-under-par 201, a shot ahead of his pursuer.
Advertisement
It won’t be an easy road to the finish line, however, with Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland posing a serious challenge.
