Mickelson had held the advantage after each of the opening two rounds and claimed that already having won the Claret Jug in the past meant he felt less pressure.
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Stenson is bidding to win his first major at the age of 40 after several near misses – he has had seven top-four finishes in majors and was the runner-up to Mickelson in the British Open at Muirfield in 2013.
Stenson’s 20 under set the new low total to par set by Tiger Woods (19 under) in a British Open, and set the lowest aggregate total (264) in major championship history.
Stenson has always been one of the better players on the PGA Tour, but he’d never been in the final group of a major before this one.
He also would be the third-oldest major champion behind Julius Boros (48) and Morris, with whom Mickelson shares a birthday (June 16) 149 years apart.
Just before walking to the first tee, Mickelson and Stenson met on the practice green next to the Royal Troon clubhouse. He finished the tournament at 20-under, three shots ahead of second-place Mickelson, who shot a six-under 65 and finished at 17-under. In the elevated quality of the twosome, Stenson became the first Swedish male major champion through near-spotless golf, with a whopping 10 birdies to offset two three-putt bogeys from outer edges of greens.
“I knew he would ultimately come through and win”.
Stenson two-putted from long range there for his third straight birdie and the pair traded birdies on the par-five sixth to remain tied for the lead, before world number six Stenson edged in front again with a birdie on the eighth.
Stenson and Mickelson both played exceptional golf, making for an exciting final round that produced an eagle, 14 birdies and two bogeys between the final pairing.
His bunker shot came to rest 4 feet from the cup, and Mickelson saved par again. Mickelson did his best to keep pace, but Stenson finally separated himself with back-to-back birdies at 14 and 15, the latter a 51-foot make from off the fringe that the Swede walked in before a big fist pump. Stenson bogeyed the first hole, before rebounding with five birdies for a 4-under 32 on the front nine.
Stenson began the day with a one-stroke lead.
Stenson matched Mickelson blow-by-blow, carding 10 birdies of his own in a round that will go down as one of the greatest of all time.
“I know he’s not going to back down tomorrow and I’m certainly going to try to not back down either so it should be an exciting afternoon”, Stenson told reporters of his thrilling head-to-head duel with Mickelson. I feel like he’s been with me all week and he was a keen golfer. “I think that’s probably why it’s disappointing in that I don’t have a point where I can look back and say, ‘I should have done that or had I only done this.’ I played a bogey-free round of 65 on the final round of a major”. Stenson said Parnevik send him a message that said, “Go out and finish what I didn’t manage to finish”.
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Not since the legendary “Duel in the Sun” waged by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson at Turnberry in 1977 has golf’s oldest and most prestigious championship seen a final day quite like this one.
