This wasn’t another Winged Foot, where his silly decision to attack on the 72nd hole cost him the U.S. Open in 2006. Lefty shot a bogey-free 65, good enough to win on just about any Sunday but this one, another runner-up finish in a major providing little consolation.
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Stenson’s score of -20 represented a new record for golf’s oldest major, beating the Open record of 19 under set by Tiger Woods in 2000, as well as firing only the second 63 in the final round of a major by the eventual victor after Johnny Miller in the 1973 US Open at Oakmont.
“I don’t feel the pressure like probably a lot of players do to try to win the Claret Jug because I’ve already won it, and that takes a lot of pressure off me”.
Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson shake hands after their third rounds, safe in the knowledge they’ll do it all again in the final round.
Yet Mickelson, 46, was going to need time to process whether all that great play meant much since he lost, though his previous five major wins will no doubt be of some long-term comfort.
Just before walking to the first tee, Mickelson and Stenson met on the practice green next to the Royal Troon clubhouse.
Stenson finished at 20-under 264, the lowest 72-hole score ever in a major. I knew that he would ultimately come through and win. “I didn’t have my best stuff”.
The popular Johnston, inspired by the fans crying out his nickname “Beef, Beef” on nearly every hole, ended up on 208, one ahead of American JB Holmes (69).
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.
There was a wobble when he missed a par putt at the hard 11th hole but remarkably he produced three straight birdies from the 14th to put the outcome beyond doubt.
“He wasn’t going to give it to me”, Stenson said, “so I had to pull away”.
The pair refused to blink as they extended their distance from the rest of the field to an unthinkable ELEVEN shots at one stage. Over the last two days, they’ve never been more than two shots apart.
This was a shot-for-shot showdown that mirrored Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry in 1977, the famed “Duel in the Sun”.
“It was an important one”, Mickelson said.
That wasn’t the case for so many others. He hacked out and his approach span back sufficiently close to make his par putt. Stenson said Parnevik sent him a message that said, “Go out and finish what I didn’t manage to finish”.
Like two prize fighters in a ring, the two men traded blow after stunning blow, reeling off birdie after birdie to turn the final day of golf’s oldest major into a two-way procession.
His outrageous birdie putt of roughly a mile, from the right fringe of the No. 15 green, gave him a two-shot lead and a clear advantage. He tapped in for birdie – a score Stenson matched after a great chip shot from the fescue.
The 29-year-old Venezuelan Olympic qualifier failed to qualify for the British Open and has only past champion status – he won the 2011 Bob Hope Classic – on the PGA Tour.
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“Even though Phil’s popular in this part of the world, maybe I’ll have a few more Europeans giving me a push and we can get a Ryder Cup atmosphere going”.
