Stenson, full of adrenaline on the 18th tee, hammered his tee shot 310 yards down the fairway and was mightily relieved to see it stop 12 inches short of one of Royal Troon’s fiendish pot bunkers.
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Stenson finally landed his first Major trophy after walking out of a tournament in despair and coming close to quitting in 2001. This one is dedicated to him, for sure.
Rory McIlroy is the most recent of champions that could have beat him, scoring 17 under in his 2014 triumph, with Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo the only other men who have carded better totals than Mickelson at the Open.
Despite competing hard to win his second Open Championship, Mickelson took the time to soak in the environment and recognize that he and Stenson were the only ones in contention early in the fourth and final round. I don’t look back on anything and say, ‘I should have done this differently or that.’ I played well enough to win this championship by a number of strokes, and I get beat my three strokes. A bet Stenson kept Lord apprised of during the Open’s final round. Over those 36 holes, they were tied after 15, Stenson led after 13 of them and Mickelson led after eight of them. All of that after overcoming a bogey on the first hole of the day.
The last birdie was for the record book.
Stenson entered the final round with a one-shot lead, but bogeyed the first hole while Mickelson birdied.
“You know, it’s not like I have decades left of opportunities to win majors, so each one means a lot to me. I just haven’t gotten the win yet”. He wasn’t going to give it to me, so I had to pull away. I think he’ll continue to defy time.
This year’s Open championship brings back memories of the 1977 epic at Turnberry, now known as The Duel in the Sun, when Tom Watson edged Jack Nicklaus by a single stroke. 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. They had a better-ball score of 59.
Mickelson may have paid the best compliment by claiming that he had never played better without winning, saying: “It’s probably the best I’ve played and not won”.
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.
“I’m just happy to be part of it. It’s going to be quite an experience”, he said. “I’m disappointed that it was at my expense”.
278: J B Holmes 70-70-69-69. He finished third, 14 shots behind.
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What took place at Troon is evidence that Mickelson is likely to be very much a factor at Baltusrol, the place where he won the 2005 PGA Championship for his second career major championship. 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.
