Stenson had arrived at Troon last week regarded as an outsider for the title after a frustrating run at the majors that culminated in his withdrawal from last month’s US Open after playing 16 holes of his second round in 10 over par. Over those 36 holes, they were tied after 15, Stenson led after 13 of them and Mickelson led after eight of them.
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Stenson, full of adrenaline on the 18th tee, hammered his tee shot 310 yards down the fairway and was mightily relieved to see it stop 12 inches short of one of Royal Troon’s fiendish pot bunkers.
Their worst-ball score would have been 69.
Nicklaus rates the show which Stenson and Mickelson put on as even better than his contest with Watson, who won by just one shot all those years ago. Stenson started the final round with a one-shot lead over Mickelson, and knew it would be a two-man race from the opening hole when Mickelson almost holed out from the fairway. On Sunday, J. B. Holmes finished third, 11 strokes behind Mickelson at 6-under. “I felt”, he said, “Like this was going to be my turn”.
The former Dubai resident, who was already assured of a place in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, went toe-to-toe with Mickelson in one of the most fascinating Major championship final round duels in history.
Willett, who claimed a shock victory at the Masters in April, told Omnisport: “He’ll be feeling very good today. There’s a lot of golf to be played and I going to try to get another one as soon as I can”.
After starting with a bogey, Stenson settled quickly making three consecutive birdies on the second, third and fourth and added two more at the sixth and the eighth for an outward nine of 32.
A shell-shocked Mickelson rammed home four birdies and an eagle in a closing round of 65 – and was left flabbergasted.
“It was a great match with Phil”. I don’t think that’s happened that I can remember. I understand how it feels. “Yeah, it was quite an old leader board for a change, I guess”.
In the post, Nicklaus made it clear that what took place on this Sunday topped anything done by that famous duel with Watson in 1977. As exciting as that final round was, Nicklaus said on his Facebook page that the Mickelson-Stenson duel was even better.
Can Mickelson bounce back from the disappointment and play himself into contention at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol the last week in July? Stenson posted the lowest round in the field for each of the final three days.
The 40-year-old Swede also eclipsed Tiger Woods’ 19-under par record total at the 2000 Open and entered the record books for firing the lowest final round by a major champion, beating two-time Open champion Greg Norman’s 64 at Royal St George’s in 1993.
Stenson-Mickelson may actually have surpassed Watson-Nicklaus for final-round fireworks, though it didn’t produce the final-hole drama of Turnberry, where Nicklaus scrambled out of the rough and made a 35-foot birdie putt on the 72 hole, forcing Watson to make his 2-foot birdie putt.
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Stenson played such a ideal round that he putted for birdie on every hole, three-putting from 80 just off the first green and three-putting from 40 feet on No. 11.
