Stenson, who will climb a place to fifth in the world rankings, had most recently challenged at a major when he finished third behind Rory McIlroy and Mickelson at the 2014 US PGA Championship.
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The first thing Henrik Stenson did upon winning the 145th Open Championship?
His total of 264 was the lowest-ever recorded at a major and took him three shots clear of Mickelson after the pair had traded birdie after birdie during a sizzling showdown on the Troon links. Instead, his ball came up 15 inches short, and Stenson knocked his ball to 20 feet on the 18th green, where he dropped in his putt for history.
In the context of his excellent rivalry with Day, Spieth and Johnson, he landed a few decent jabs here, both in his play on the course and his pre-tournament reminder that his four majors equals their combined tally.
“Right now I’m running on adrenaline”.
“I had about a 45-footer on 15 and I’m thinking, ‘I’ve got to make that, ‘” said Mickelson.
Mickelson was a runner-up for the 11th time in a major, but never like this.
“It would be great to hand one back to him tomorrow, absolutely”. Stenson stuffed his tee shot at 17 inside of eight feet, and Mickelson missed the green.
‘I want to play well, ‘ he said. I played what I feel was well enough to win this championship by a number of strokes, and yet I got beat by three strokes.
“I got beat by 10 birdies”. And in 2013 he snapped his driver in frustration on the final hole of the BMW Championship before damaging his locker.
The last birdie was for the record book. The lowest previous score to par in a major was set by one Tiger Woods (-19) at St. Andrews in 2000. The 46-year-old Californian was also prevented the honour of becoming the oldest victor of the Claret Jug since Tom Morris Senior down the road at Prestwick way back in 1867.
Stenson drains a birdie putt to go two with three to play. He wasn’t going to give it to me so I had to pull away.
“I feel like he has been with me all week”.
After the most crushing loss of his career at Merion, after it finally appeared that he was damaged goods, Mickelson summoned arguably his greatest performance just a month later, a flawless 66 to capture the Muirfield Open. Over the last two days, they’ve never been more than two shots apart.
“I’ve always thought that he is one of the best ball-strikers in the game and that major championships are perfectly suited for him”, Mickelson said.
“I would be shocked if anyone other than an American won this year”, Lefty said with a laugh. “I’m happy for him”. “I’m disappointed that it was at my expense”.
Next on the leaderboard was J.B. Holmes, a staggering 11 shots behind the runner-up.
Both players parred the first three holes of the playoff, two on 18 and the third on 17. From there, he made a two-putt par and a lengthy birdie at 18 to play his way into the record books. Stenson bogeyed the first hole, before rebounding with five birdies for a 4-under 32 on the front nine. “That was the extra self-belief that helped me go all the way this week”. I’ve really felt the support here even though Phil is a very popular major champion and a very popular player.
Maybe he can take that silver jug down to Rio in his search of Olympic gold.
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Four behind starting the final round at Valhalla, Stenson surged into a share of the lead with five birdies in the first nine holes and offered a prayer of thanks to the golfing gods when his approach to the 13th just carried the water to set up another.
