The finish of the 145th Open Championship supplied all of the above, in a memorable finale that sparked images of Tom Watson & Jack Nicklaus’ famed Duel In The Sun at Turnberry in 1977. Stenson was simply better, converting birdies on four of his last five holes to defeat Mickelson by three strokes.
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“Thank you very much for a great fight”, Stenson told Mickelson as he held the claret jug during the closing ceremony. After a memorable final round where the pair traded birdies all day, Stenson emerged triumphant in record-setting fashion to win his first major.
“This will take a while to sink in”, said Stenson, at last a major victor at the age of 40, as he clutched the trophy.
An 18-foot birdie putt on the par-three 14th was one highlight, along with with a 50-foot birdie putt from off the green on the 15th. Mickelson’s game was nowhere near as sharp Saturday as his opening-round 63 that tied a major championship record for a round.
And although Mickelson came agonisingly close to an eagle at 16, Stenson was not to be denied as he picked up two further shots – including a fitting gain at the last – to complete a remarkable performance.
“It was one of the best rounds I’ve ever played.and yet I want to shed a tear right now”, Mickelson said in a press conference.
Henrik Stenson of Sweden finished 20 under for the tournament to claim the Open Championship. Stenson made birdies at 3 and 4, but Mickelson hit a tremendous second shot into the par-5 fourth and tied him with an eagle.
Maybe the best part of golf is how a person can play it their entire life.
But Stenson, who finished second behind Mickelson in the 2013 Open at Muirfield, then three-putted the sixth and failed to get up and down from a bunker on the eighth, which was playing just 100 yards after the tee was moved forward in anticipation of strong winds. “I get you’ve got to cover it, but why do you have to interfere with it?”
This was all about Stenson and Mickelson, two powerful players with different styles and different credentials.
On Sunday, Scott found a birdie on the third hole and both he and Spieth avoided bogeys in the early going. I’d love to play tomorrow’s final round the way I did the first two and give myself a shot. 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. “I know (Mickelson is) not going to back down, and I’m certainly going to try to not back down, either. So he sent me a message, ‘Go out and finish what I didn’t manage to finish, ‘ and I’m really proud to have done that, and it’s going to be massive for golf in Sweden with this win”.
As for the rest of the field, JB Holmes was the nearest contender back on -6, some 14 shots behind the victor and 11 behind Mickleson.
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American Steve Stricker ended five-under, while Northern Ireland’s world No. 4 Rory McIlroy fired an impressive final 67 to climb to tied fifth at four-under alongside England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Spain’s Sergio Garcia.
