“Everyone calls him ‘The Ice Man.’ I can tell you sometimes he’s not”. You did not play in the 2004 Open Championship there.
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As well as equalling the lowest score recorded in any major, which Mickelson had also done in the first round, Stenson’s 63 was only the second recorded in the final round of a major by the eventual victor after Johnny Miller in the 1973 US Open.
While success in majors may have previously eluded Stenson, in 2013 he became the first man to top the money list on both the American and European orders of merit.
“It’s probably the best I’ve played and not won”, said the 46-year-old, who would have been the fourth oldest major champion in history. “I didn’t get up and down for birdies”.
SHOT OF THE DAY: Stenson holed a 50-foot birdie putt at No. 15 for a two-shot lead with three holes to play. The wind has died down, and the sun even broke through a clouds a few times Sunday. That was fitting, as it rekindled memories of a sun-splashed day 39 years ago at another course in the British Open rotation, the one just 25 miles down the Scottish coastline. The next-closest finisher was 10 strokes behind.
Mickelson, the vanquished, admitted afterwards that the Watson-Nicklaus encounter had “crossed my mind”, adding: “I certainly was thinking about that”.
H.S.: Well, I think it’s hard to go from regular target golf training to links.
Instead, Stenson got onto the green in regulation for the 56th time in 72 holes – tops among all golfers in The Open – where a simple two-putt would have been enough to win. They went back and forth from there, pouring in birdie after birdie – and even an eagle from Lefty at No. 4.
Emma Stenson always knew her husband would get his hands on the claret jug one day.
Stenson just missed the green and left himself 51 feet from the hole.
KEY STATISTIC: Stenson and Mickelson had a better-ball score of 59 in the final group.
He tamed a course that had led more than one of his rivals to such levels of frustration that their clubs had been left broken in two on the windswept ground.
The reactions by Stenson and Mickelson say it all.
BEST OF THE REST: J.B. Holmes closed with a 69 to finish third, 14 shots behind.
“It’s very big. We need it as a sport, if media gave us more attention for younger generations to come through”, Noren said. “I think it would be pretty cool to have that next to some of the other nice trophies I’ve managed to win”.
“I’m just disappointed that it was at my expense”.
Simply put, Mickelson was magnificent, shooting a 6-under-par 65 that on most days wins major championships. “It’s not something you want to run around and shout, but I felt like this was going to be my turn”.
“But I really feel good now. Played close to flawless golf and got beat”.
It was one he waited so long for after nine top three finishes in Majors but one he had felt in his waters would arrive today. The PGA Championship begins in less than two weeks at Baltusrol, where Mickelson won that title in 2005.
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“I don’t remember being in a match like that, where we’ve separated ourselves from the field by so many strokes”, said Mickelson.
