You knew all week McIlroy was just setting up for the backdoor top 10, and he hit it so hard with a 67 on Sunday.
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But this was even better. Lord lit up a cigarette while they were walking up the 7th fairway, which led to Stenson looking at him and saying, “You better enjoy that”.
Stenson’s victory denied Mickelson a sixth career major to match legends like Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo as well as a place in the history books as the oldest Open champion in 149 years. Mickelson could only shake his head.
Stenson and Mickelson were never separated by more than two shots over 40 straight holes until the Swede’s final birdie.
“The greens are going to be very quick, so once I get in tonight, I’ll have a good rest and get into that”.
When the final group stepped to the first tee, the sun broke through the clouds for the first time in three days. 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.
“Wow, this will take a little while to sink in”, said Stenson as he held aloft the coveted Claret Jug. I know I can compete. In the final round, they combined to make 14 birdies and an eagle.
The embrace between the two after the 18th as they walked off together was one of those iconic images that may define this Open for years to come. It’s probably this one and Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach winning the U.S. Open by 15 strokes, and that’s it. Stenson matched his birdie with an up-and-down from deep rough, and he was on his way.
Stenson finished at 20-under 264 overall, breaking both the Open scoring record of 267 set by Greg Norman at Royal St. George’s in 1993 and the major championship mark of 265 by David Toms at the 2001 PGA Championship. The two players gave each other a hug, then walked off the green with their arms around each other’s shoulders, much as Nicklaus and Watson did on that day at Turnberry.
Mickelson gave Stenson’s wife, Emma, a peck on the cheek, before fading away to let the champion have his moment.
American J.B. Holmes was a distant third on six-under 278, but the other scores were just a detail. “I’ll look back and say to myself, ‘What do I need to do?'”. “I’ve always thought that he is one of the best ball strikers in the game and that major championships are perfectly suited for him”. But I’m happy with everything. I’m happy that he did. “I’m disappointed that it was at my expense”.
But the wise-cracking star insists passing golf’s toughest driving test still ranks only second best to passing his real driving test after failing on the Highway Code. No one older than 48 has won any major championship.
“I put in my best performance, it was close to flawless golf and I was beaten”. A promising European golfer in the early 2000s, he was forced from the game after he was unable to get over a bad case of the “driver yips”.
In surpassing Arnold Palmer’s 10 second placings at the majors, Mickelson is now golf’s runner-up of runners-up behind only the great Jack Nicklaus, who fell similarly short on 19 occasions – as well as winning 18 times.
This is what Mickelson is going to do: He’s going to pick himself up, turn up at Baltusrol for the PGA Championship at the end of the month (the PGA was moved up from mid-August because of the Olympics) and probably vault himself back into contention by the weekend.
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Speaking to Golf Digest in 2014, he said, “I never met Allen Stanford, and it’s safe to say I won’t be visiting him in prison”.
