Stenson’s game through the week with rounds of 68-65-68-63 suggested a different level of golf, which saw him total 20-under, which I believe is among the very best shot at a Major.
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Stenson had always been considered one of the best players on Tour never to have won a Major, but he put that right in the most spectacular fashion at Royal Troon on Scotland’s west coast. The only time Mickelson was never a serious factor in the closing holes was when Jordan Spieth won by four shots at the Masters past year.
Stenson, the champion golfer of the year, received the silver claret jug. He wound up with so much more Sunday. I hope everything now starts flowing.
His biggest challenge was 46-year-old Mickelson, who has won five majors.
Mickelson thought a fourth-round score between his first and second round totals would give him an opportunity to win The Open.
“Our final round was really good”, Nicklaus wrote on Facebook, “but theirs was even better”.
Mickelson remains on five major titles, including one in The Open at Muirfield in 2013 when he beat Stenson to the trophy.
“I don’t remember what we were laughing about, but Henrik’s got a great sense of humor and he’s a good prankster”, Mickelson said. That was the extra self-belief that made me go all the way this week.
Said Nicklaus on Sunday: “Some in the media have already tried to compare today’s final round to 1977 at Turnberry, with Tom Watson and me in what they called the ‘Duel in the Sun.’ I thought we played great and had a wonderful match”. Both Stenson and Mickelson dazzled during the final round but it was the Swede who was ultimately able to hold his nerve and get the job done. Over those 36 holes, they were tied after 15, Stenson led after 13 of them and Mickelson led after eight of them.
Of the 11 career runners-up in majors, Troon might be the hardest for Mickelson to accept, for it was a loss without a mistake. He chased a 3-wood onto the green at the par-5 16th, and his eagle putt from 30 feet missed by less than an inch.
“I’ve got a lot of special memories going back to Baltusrol in ’05, ” he said. “I’m disappointed that it was at my expense”.
“Those guys are playing a different golf course than everyone else”, Holmes said.
The pair went head to head throughout a thrilling final round at Royal Troon but in the end it was Stenson who prevailed on 20 under after shooting a stunning 63.
A Sunday singles match-up would be mouth-watering after the titanic Troon tussle, although Stenson is not so sure. In the first round, if his birdie putt on the 18th hole had not spun out of the cup, he would be the first player in history to shoot 62 in a major.
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Stenson and Mickelson matched pars on only six of the 18 holes.
