Troon had the better golf.
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To compare anything with the 1977 British Open used to be sacrosanct. Jason Day shot two weekend rounds of even par to finish one-over on the week, tied for 22nd, and couldn’t wait to get to the RBC Canadian Open for some warmth and fast greens.
Both shot 65 in the third round and shared the lead.
The final day shootout between Stenson and Mickelson was highly anticipated and did not fail to deliver, emulating that of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus in the 1977 Open.
Phil Mickelson of the United States lines up a putt on the 18th green during the second round of the British Open at Royal Troon, Scotland, Britain, July 15, 2016.
Mickelson had the edge, putting his approach on the green, about 30 feet from the flag. Stenson answered with two straight birdies from 15 feet to regain the lead. Stenson hit his approach on the par-5 fourth hole onto the green for a two-putt birdie. Neither player could push the margin any higher than that until they got to the 15th, the Swede again up by a shot after rolling in an 18-foot birdie the previous hole.
It never stopped the rest of the way.
On Sunday, when Stenson shot 63 to Mickelson’s 65 to win at 20 under par, he was 14 shots ahead of third-place J.B. Holmes.
I was fortunate to watch every second of today’s final round of the Open Championship, and I thought it was fantastic.
“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”, Nicklaus posted to social media.
“Phil certainly has nothing to be ashamed of because he played wonderfully”, Nicklaus wrote. Henrik was simply terrific. Our final round was really good, but theirs was even better. But it was still a runner-up finish in a major, the 11th of his career, his extensive list of close calls surpassed only by Nicklaus’ 19.
Lingmerth was proud of his countryman, a little nervous too, after Stenson’s tee shot on the 72nd hole came within a foot of reaching one of the pot bunkers.
Henrik Stenson is the champion golfer of the year, thanks to a final round for the ages.
Stenson played such a flawless round that he putted for birdie on every hole, three-putting from 80 feet just off the first green and three-putting from 40 feet on No. 11.
“I knew I had to keep on pushing, keep on giving myself birdie chances and he wasn’t going to give it to me, so I had to pull away”.
Afterwards the Tyrone boss said: “This is the best of them all because of the starvation that was there for six years and because of what had gone on before”.
Without Mickelson there to push him, there’s no telling how this final round would be remembered.
A shell-shocked Mickelson rammed home four birdies and an eagle in a closing round of 65 – and was left flabbergasted. His final score of 267 equalled the Open record.
Their worst-ball score would have been 69.
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“I really felt like I played for him this week”, added the former world No. 2 who was second behind Mickelson at the Open at Muirfield in 2013. That’s what Turnberry had. At 40 and 46 respectively, victor Stenson and runner-up Mickelson can no longer claim to be youngsters, but their dominance of the event was not by chance.
