Henrik Stenson of Sweden, left and Phil Mickelson of the United States embrace as they walk off the 18th green after Stenson won the British Open Golf Championships at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, Sunday.
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Phil Mickelson may be disappointed that he wasn’t able to win The Open Championship, but he is still happy with his game.
But this was another near miss to add to so many that have come before – he has now been a runner-up at 11 majors.
“It’s probably the best I’ve played and not won”, said Mickelson, who at 46 was looking to become the fourth oldest major champion in history.
On this occasion, JB Holmes in third finished 11 shots behind Mickelson, who said: “I don’t remember being in a match like that where we’ve separated ourselves from the field by so many strokes”. Stenson bogeyed the first hole, before rebounding with five birdies for a 4-under 32 on the front nine.
Mickelson narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 16th hole, and Stenson kept his two-shot lead with an up-and-down for birdie from deep rough.
Stenson didn’t get the lead for good until the 14th hole, then he seized the Claret Jug emphatically with three straight birdies.
When he followed that up with a monster birdie putt from off the 15th green, there were two shots between the leaders for the first time. Mickelson responded with two birdies of his own and an eagle on the outward nine.
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”.
Said Mickelson: “I thought we played pretty good golf”.
“That’s something that normally doesn’t happen, but I’m just going to put it (down) to this week and forget about it by the time I get to the PGA”.
Defending champion Zach Johnson shot 71 to end one under, while England’s Masters champion Danny Willett ended seven over. “But there will be some point when I’ll struggle to make it up the stairs when I get back to the house”, Stenson said after four hours of an epic battle between two 40-somethings at Royal Troon.
A two-tee start was used for the first time in Open history in the third round at Hoylake in 2014 in anticipation of bad weather, which memorably arrived just as eventual victor McIlroy was giving his post-round press conference.
Stenson’s winning score of 20 under was a new Open record in relation to par, eclipsing the 19 under par total set by Tiger Woods at St Andrews in 2000.
Swede Stenson began the day one stroke clear of his playing partner but Mickelson showed he meant business at the first hole, drilling a majestic approach to tap-in range for a birdie. “I just had to stay focused on the moment, and I did not waver doing that”.
“I know he’s not going to back down, and I’m certainly going to try to not back down either”. The margin has never been more than one stroke, and they’ve been tied much of the way.
“He’s really a great champion”, Mickelson said of Stenson.
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Stenson and Mickelson were phenomenal all week long, and in any other situation Mickelson’s score would have easily taken home the Open trophy. He won the PGA Championship there in 2005.
