With a nod to the typically Scottish summer weather seen at Troon over the last two days, he added of the fear of failure: “The sun will come up on Monday anyway, hopefully”.
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Stenson’s final score broke Greg Norman’s record for the lowest four-day total in an Open and tied Jason Day’s mark for the lowest score in relation to par in a major championship.
The pair will go out together again at 2.35pm, although this time with roles reversed as Mickelson will be the one looking to overturn a one-shot deficit.
One such effort was his birdie putt at the 18th on Thursday that just refused to drop, agonisingly denying him the first ever round of 62 in a major.
The 40-year-old Swede has a two-shot lead over Phil Mickelson with one hole to play in regulation at the British Open. They were tied with five holes to play until Stenson made an 18-foot birdie on the par-3 14th and then buried Lefty with a putt that defined his moment as a major champion.
Stenson is at 19-under for the tournament and poised to break the Open scoring record.
While Mother Nature did her worst, Phil Mickelson did his best to handle the links course in the second round of The Open Championship at Royal Troon in South Ayrshire, Scotland, Friday.
Having had nine top-three major finishes, Stenson finally became the first Swede to become a major victor thanks to a final round of 63 which included an astonishing ten birdies. The one day that it was off, it came back the next day and it was back on. Over the last two days, they’ve never been more than two shots apart.
Turns out this was only the preview to a duel at Royal Troon. A traumatic 12 months for the Englishman was ending on a high. “I think 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”, Mickelson admitted.
“It seems like it was not going to be anyone else but the two of us”.
Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson.
As a result, the American handed his rival the initiative and gave himself work to do as he attempts to become the oldest victor of the Claret Jug since Tom Morris Senior down the road at Prestwick back in 1867. But on this Sunday, it was Stenson’s time.
Stenson began the final day with a one-shot lead over Mickelson but the positions were quickly reversed after the first hole. But for the most part kept the ball in play and played kind of stress-free golf.
J.B. Holmes finished third.
On No. 4, a short par-5 downwind that played the easiest hole of the day, he drove into thick rough on the right.
Another birdie from similar distance on the next restored Stenson’s overnight advantage, only for Mickelson to hole from eight feet for an eagle on the fourth.
Stenson joined Johnny Miller as the only player to shoot a 63 in the final round of a major. Mickelson responded with two birdies of his own and an eagle on the outward nine.
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Seemingly undeterred, Mickelson rallied by coaxing in a 7-foot birdie putt at the 16th before the pendulum swung again a hole later when his playing partner knocked in a 20-footer for birdie to reclaim the lead.
