Stenson didn’t get the lead for good until the 14th hole, and then he seized the Claret Jug emphatically with three straight birdies. His 10th birdie of the round gave him an 8-under 63 to match Johnny Miller for the lowest closing round by a major champion.
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Stenson ended the drama there and stomped out the flickering flame as he rolled in yet another birdie on 18 to seal his victory and first Major win by 3-strokes. He tied Jason Day’s record for lowest under par set a year ago at the PGA Championship. That isn’t necessarily good news for Mickelson, but it should be.
Stenson has come close to winning majors before, ironically his closest finish being runner up to Phil Mickelson at Muirfield in 2013.
“And of course I’m going to be out there trying my hardest in a week’s time at the PGA”.
“It would be pretty cool to have that next to some of the other nice trophies I’ve managed to win”.
“Some in the media have already tried to compare this final round to 1977 at Turnberry, with Tom Watson and me in what they called the Duel in the Sun”. Over those 36 holes, they were tied after 15, Stenson led after 13 of them and Mickelson led after eight of them.
That’s when Stenson put his stamp on it.
What’s impressive about Mickelson is that seven of his 11 runner-up finishes in the majors were by two shots or fewer. Stenson was up by a shot after draining an 18-foot birdie on the 14th. “I lost a dear friend on Wednesday morning in the United States from cancer and I feel like he has been with me all week, Mike this one is for you”. “I’m sorry that it came at my expense”. Holmes and would have won 140 of the 145 Opens played. His score of 267 was 11 strokes better than third-place J.B. Mickelson made double bogey from the bunker on the 17th at Shinnecock Hills.
Golf will return to the Olympic schedule in Brazil next month after an 112-year absence, but Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy are among a host of stars to have pulled out of the tournament. Mickelson began the week at Royal Troon with a 63, and Stenson finished what Lefty started.
A week after worrying about his diminishing opportunities to win a major title, Henrik Stenson hopes his stunning Open triumph can open the floodgates in the game’s biggest events. Stenson broke a lot of records with his performance on Sunday. All of that after overcoming a bogey on the first hole of the day.
Stenson became only the fourth player to win the British Open with all four rounds in the 60s, joining Tiger Woods, Nick Price and Greg Norman.
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Now the Golden Bear reckons his epic showdown with Tom Watson is also playing second fiddle to the blockbuster at Royal Troon on Sunday. “It seemed like it was going to be a two-horse race and it was all the way to the end”, Stenson said.
