Jacklin said it was every bit as good as the memorable “Duel in the Sun” when Tom Watson edged out Jack Nicklaus in another ding-dong tussle in the British Open at nearby Turnberry 39 years ago.
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The American left-hander shot a final-round 65 without a single bogey to finish on 17-under for the week, but still ended up losing by three shots to an inspired Stenson.
‘Phil Mickelson played one of the best rounds I have ever seen played in The Open and Henrik Stenson just played better – he played one of the greatest rounds I have ever seen.
Epic. Extraordinary. Amazing. There aren’t enough words to describe how special the final round was of the British Open – and the duel between victor Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson.
Stenson, 40, who started the day on 12-under, one shot ahead of 46-year-old American star Phil Mickelson, duelled with the left-hander all the way to the end of an enthralling day’s play.
The 1977 Open Championship at Turnberry will forever be remembered as the “Duel in the Sun”. 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. “What a great match today”.
“He’s been one of the best to play the game, certainly in the last 20 years”.
Those comments were from Nicklaus, who took to Facebook after the round to praise both golfers. “… I’m happy with where my game has come this year”.
“I didn’t finish the job the way I wanted and on a few of them it was a couple of youngsters from America (Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler) who did some good stuff and denied me the wins in particular in ’15”.
Mickelson had scored a 63 himself in the opening round on Thursday last week. What is different about the two is that Stenson was going head-to-head with Mickelson for the title nearly in a matchplay situation, whereas Miller was coming from the pack and arguably playing like he had nothing to lose. “There’s a lot of golf to be played and I going to try to get another one as soon as I can”. So it begs the question, was this the greatest ever maiden major triumph?
J.B. Holmes finished third.
Lord and Stenson have been together since 2012, and in their first full season went on to win two PGA Tour events and the $10,000,000 FedEx Cup.
Mickelson showed he meant business with a first-hole birdie after drilling a majestic approach to tap-in range while overnight leader Stenson took three putts.
Tiger Woods’ first major win, the 1997 Masters, must come close to any maiden major title discussion.
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Sure, Mickelson erred by trying to hit 3-iron around a tree at Winged Foot and making double bogey on the 18th hole in the 2006 U.S. Open.
