Then he went out and birdied the first hole to Henrik Stenson’s bogey, and took the lead in the final round of the 145th Open Championship.
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Henrik Stenson admits he is desperate to go out and “finish the job” as he takes a one-shot lead into the final round of the British Open at Royal Troon.
Three years ago Stenson was beaten to the title by Mickelson, who ended his own long wait to win the Claret Jug with a final-round 66.
“Thank you very much for a great fight”, Stenson told Mickelson as he accepted the Claret Jug.
“I knew I was going to have to battle back, but I think that was the extra self-belief that made me go all the way this week”. His first win came in 2013 in his 20th start – He would now have six major title, becoming the 14th player to win six or more majors.
Looking to become the first male Swedish player to win a major, Stenson carded a third round of 68 to finish 12 under par, a shot ahead of playing partner Mickelson, who at 46 would be the fourth oldest victor of any major and oldest in the Open since 1867.
Stenson’s 72-hole total of 264 also beat the best in any major set by David Toms in the 2001 US PGA and was three lower than the previous Open record set by Greg Norman at Sandwich in 1993.
The final pair’s dominance was summed up by the fact Mickelson finished 11 strokes clear of JB Holmes in third, with Steve Stricker (-5) rounding out the top four ahead of Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and Tyrrell Hatton.
“There’s been many great players from my country tried in past years and decades and there’s been a couple of really close calls”, he said.
While Stenson may not be a household name to some casual golf fans, he’s always been in that group of players considered “best to never win a major”.
For Mickelson, it’s an 11th runner-up finish at a major in his career.
“I was happy enough to throw two good punches in there on the par 3s and pick up two shots on either one of them to come back out on top at the end of the third round”, Stenson said.
His 63 matched Johnny Miller for the lowest closing round by a major champion.
And the former Players champion looked to have put the nail in the coffin with a sublime tee shot on the par-three 17th.
Henrik Stenson has reclaimed the upper hand in his epic British Open duel with Phil Mickelson. “That’s probably why it’s disappointing in that I don’t have a point where I can look back and say, “I should have done that” or ‘Had I only done this.’ I played a bogey-free round of 65 on the final round of a major”.
Stenson and Mickelson traded masterful iron play and clutch putting like two heavyweights throwing haymakers in Sunday’s opening holes. I got beat by 10 birdies, and its not like other guys were out there doing the same thing.
“Henrik was 20-under at the end and Phil was 17-under, you would have thought Troon was a pitch and putt course last week but the weather was bad on Friday and Saturday, the wind really blew”, said the 72-year-old Jacklin.
Now it’s on to the PGA Championship in less than two weeks, the schedule compressed because of the Olympics. No one else is within six shots of the lead.
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“I was fortunate to watch every second of today’s final round of the Open Championship”, Nicklaus explained on social media, “and I thought it was fantastic”.
