But this was even better.
Advertisement
Mickelson turned in what would normally go down as one of the greatest closing rounds in major championship history: a bogey-free, 6-under 65. As the pressure mounted, they both got better.
Stenson is at 12-under 201, giving him a one-shot lead over Mickelson. “If I did come face-to-face with him, what I might do to him could get me arrested also”. It’s just disappointing for me to finish second, but we’ve got a great champ.
The top-ranked Ko made a 10-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole after Jutanugarn and Lee ran into trouble. The Swede, who finished runner-up to his rival in 2013, boasted a narrow overnight lead and held his nerve throughout a historic final round to card an8-under63 and claim the iconic claret jug with a record-lowest overall score of 20-under par at Royal Troon in South Ayrshire, Scotland.
The next player on the leaderboard is Bill Haas, six shots back. I knew I had to keep on pushing and he wasn’t going to give it to me, so I had to pull away. They went back and forth from there, pouring in birdie after birdie – and even an eagle from Lefty at No. 4.
Who will ever forget him, after double-bogeying the 18th hole at Winged Foot in the 2006 U.S. Open, in a teary-eyed daze afterward, saying, “I am such an idiot”. The margin never was more than a single stroke until the 15th hole.
But Stenson replied to birdie and regain a share of the lead before taking sole ownership of it with another at the third.
Stenson’s 20 under par finish equalled the record set by Australia’s Jason Day at last year’s US PGA Championship, while the tally beat the Open Championship record set by Tiger Woods in 2000. In this famously fickle game of ours, if you don’t win one of the big four, you simply can not be thought of as one of the very best.
“I want to thank my wife, my family, my team for all their support and for all their hard work, the fans, the R&A and my caddie Gareth Lord”. (I’m) happy for Henrik. “I’m just disappointed that it was at my expense”.
SWEDISH DELIGHT: Stenson is the first Swedish man to win a major. Mickelson had five major titles and, now, 11 seconds.
Mickelson will head to Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey on Wednesday to start preparing for the PGA Championship that begins in two weeks.
“I’ve been high on the greens-in-regulation category for a few years now”, confirms Stenson.
CANCER SUVIVOR: England’s Matthew Southgate shot 69 to secure a place in the top 15, a year after he underwent surgery for testicular cancer. At that point, he thought his golfing career was over.
Later he added: “He was one of the real good guys back in Dubai”.
“The USGA has it in their mind that the score needs to be par, so no matter what lines they have to cross to get there, that’s got to be the standard, and it kind of disregards and doesn’t take into account the difference in talent level and abilities that the players of today now have”.
Mickelson shot 65 for a 267 total. It almost earned him an exemption into next year’s British Open at Birkdale, but Southgate missed out by one stroke.
“It’s been a roller-coaster year for me”, said Southgate.
Asked if he would attempt to qualify for another Open, Monty says he’d “love to try and do that again”.
On Thursday he was left cursing when a birdie putt at the 18th lipped out, denying him the first ever 62 in a major, and he was also agonisingly denied lifting the Claret Jug for the second time by Stenson’s brilliance.
Advertisement
In the thrilling back-and-forth battle on Sunday, the pair etched their name into the history books alongside the likes of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus when it comes to thrilling head-to-head matchups in the final round of a major.
