Stenson also tied the record for the lowest score on the final day of a major.
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With both players having completed the front nine in just 32 shots, it was the Swede who maintained a one-shot lead thanks in part to his birdie at the Postage Stamp which he birdied in two to reach -16.
Other than Mickelson, the nearest player to Stenson was J.B. Holmes, 14 strokes back.
In the thrilling back-and-forth battle on Sunday, the pair etched their name into the history books alongside the likes of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus when it comes to thrilling head-to-head matchups in the final round of a major.
Even in tough conditions, Montgomerie breezed through the final round in less than three hours.
“It’s disappointing to come in second but I’m happy for Henrik, he’s really a great champion”, said the left-hander.
“I played what I feel was well enough to win this championship by a number of strokes and yet I got beat by three strokes”. I didn’t do a good enough job. “It was a challenging day”.
In a duel for the ages, Henrik Stenson blistered Royal Troon for a final-round 63 and bested Phil Mickelson by three shots on Sunday to win the 145 Open.
“It’s not something you want to run around and shout, but I felt like this was going to be my turn”, Stenson said. He wasn’t going to give it to me, so I had to pull away. “I knew I was going to have to battle back if it wasn’t, but I think that was the extra self-belief that made me go all the way this week”.
Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson were locked together at the top of the leaderboard on 15 under par through six holes after both made dynamic starts to the British Open final round today.
While there may have been a lot of 63s in previous Open Championship’s they are rare to say the least during the last round, especially on one of the most hard courses in championship golf.
It was also a draining couple of days.
While 46-year-old Mickelson put up a remarkable fight for the claret jug, Stenson put himself in the driver’s seat when he rolled in a 50-foot birdie putt from off the green at the 15th, giving him a two-stoke lead – the largest margin of the day to that point.
“I had about a 40-, 45-footer on 15 and I’m thinking I’ve got to make that”, Mickelson said. Starting a shot behind Stenson, he took the lead on the first hole when his birdie topped Stenson’s bogey.
But Stenson, who finished second behind Mickelson in the 2013 Open at Muirfield, then three-putted the sixth and failed to get up and down from a bunker on the eighth, which was playing just 100 yards after the tee was moved forward in anticipation of strong winds.
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The Swede, known as the Icemen, beat American Phil Mickelson after a brilliant final round 63 at Royal Troon Golf Club. 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. “Very proud of the way I played”. He wishes that was the norm in golf, instead of players routinely taking four hours or more. “Jesper Parnevik, in particular, twice”.
