Mickelson narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 16th hole, and Stenson kept his 2-shot lead with an up-and-down for birdie from the deep rough.
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Henrik Stenson can no longer be considered the best player in the world without a major.
Beyond the score, the measure of his performance was that he putted for a birdie on every hole Sunday in a mild wind off the Irish Sea.
Maybe it was a sign when the sun popped out from behind the clouds for the first time in three days at Royal Troon just as Stenson and Mickelson walked to the first tee.
This was all about Stenson and Mickelson, two powerful players with different styles and different credentials, mainly the number of majors – five for Mickelson, none for Stenson.
The final stroke in this masterpiece was a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that curled into the cup on the final turn.
Trading birdies and making few mistakes, the two were tied through the 13th hole, and then Stenson generated two enormous roars from the huge galleries. I’ve always thought he is one of the best ball-strikers in the game and that major championships are perfectly suited for him. On that day, Tom got me, 65-66.
After an epic duel at the British Open, Henrik Stenson has claimed his first major title.
Henrik Stenson didn’t just win the Open Championship at Royal Troon, he opened the record books for a historic victory.
“It’s probably the best I’ve played and not won”, said Mickelson, who was trying to win his sixth major but ended up with his 11th runner-up in the game’s four biggest events.
On a day when the golf course was expected to show some teeth, Mickelson and Stenson made the hard links venue look tame.
“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind when I’m coming into the back nine tomorrow”, Stenson, whose birdies on 14 and 17, both par threes, on Saturday gave him the lead. “I don’t see that”. Barely believable was the score of third-placed JB Holmes, who was a full 14 strokes behind Stenson on six under.
“I didn’t have my best stuff”, Mickelson said in his press conference after the round.
“I feel like he has been with me all week”.
“It may be unlucky but you’ve got to embrace it and try to play good”. “So I just tried to do the same, and just delighted to come out on top and managed to win this trophy”.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I’m very happy”, Stenson said.
“There’s only one thing that matters (today)”, Stenson said. The lie was OK, he chipped out sideways and nearly matched the birdie of Stenson, which dropped Mickelson out of the lead for the first time since his 14th hole Thursday.
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McIlroy has made more of a splash off the course at Troon this year, mostly because of his explosive pre-tournament news conference in which he called out golf for its lax drug-testing procedures and questioned the relevance of his sport being part of the Olympics.
