In his 42nd attempt at a major, and with his first-ever lead on the back nine of a Sunday, and with a rival who had won five majors already, Stenson began his pull-away on par-3 No. 14.
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Stenson joined combat with American Phil Mickelson in a final round of this 145th British Open and, after meeting fire with fire for much an intriguing battle, the Swede’s quality of shot-making and prowess with the putter in hand contrived to give him a critical edge.
All he wanted was the silver Claret Jug.
In a fitting touch after two days of foul weather, the sun broke through just as the final group was teeing off at No. 1. Likewise, that gives Stenson the Open record for score relative to par, besting Tiger Woods’s 2000 tournament at St. Andrews (19 under).
Jesper Parnevik was the last top player to come out of the Scandinavian country prior to Stenson but his bogey at the last at Turnberry on the final day in 1994 cost him glory and he blew the lead on the Sunday at Troon three years later. “But there will be some point when I’ll struggle to make it up the stairs when I get back to the house”, Stenson said after four hours of an epic battle between two 40-somethings at Royal Troon. But Stenson was on fire on Sunday, so of course he went for the hole and seemed to know it was going in from the moment it left his putter.
The rest of the field were simply an irrelevance for most of the weekend in the face of such brilliance, with JB Holmes eventually securing his best major finish 11 shots back in third. “If you can drive the ball well, you’ll do well, and I’ve had success in that tournament before, so I’m really happy with that”, he said.
“I’m very proud of the way I played”.
“I felt like this was going to be my turn”, he explained.
“But experience definitely plays a big part of it. Yeah, it was quite an old leaderboard for a change, I guess”. It may prove to be Woods’ last Major win, but it will always be vividly remembered as one of the greatest finishes in history.
Stenson made it three birdies in a row at the long fourth, but Mickelson went one better as he smote a delightful second to six feet and the eagle putt was never in doubt. I am delighted to come out on top.
McIlroy, the 2014 Open champion at Hoylake, finished the highest of that quartet after an impressive 67 on Sunday left him tied for fifth at four under par overall alongside England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia of Spain. That next major opportunity comes at the USPGA Championship at Baltusrol in less than a fortnight’s time. I want to play well.
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“I’m playing well. I’m driving the ball great. But I’m happy with everything”. “I think it would be pretty cool to have that next to some of the other nice trophies I’ve managed to win”. I was going out there today with the goal of trying to get world ranking points, Race to Dubai points, FedExCup points. He won his first career European Tour title in May that year, but by mid-summer his game had suffered a sharp decline.
