Stenson had seven times finished in the top five of a major without managing to break through.
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That’s where Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus staged an epic back and forth battle, which Watson eventually won by a single stroke at 12 under. After 36 holes, both Nicklaus and Watson were one shot off the lead.
Lord said that he lit a cigaratte midway through the final round at Royal Troon Sunday, and Stenson reminded him of the friendly wager. Stenson made a matching birdie, pulling off a nifty up-and-down from the thick grass left of the green.
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.
Records didn’t matter. This was about winning his first major.
“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”.
New Open champion Henrik Stenson has revealed that he felt his first Major success was on the cards at the weekend after outscoring Phil Mickelson in a stunning final round at Royal Troon.
‘Phil certainly has nothing to be ashamed of because he played wonderfully. Henrik was simply terrific.
“But I really feel good now”. His final score of 267 equalled the Open record.
Since finishing third in the 2014 US PGA Championship, Stenson admitted he had not been a factor in the next six majors, culminating in withdrawing from last month’s US Open after playing 16 holes of his second round in 10 over par.
Down by one shot at the outset, Mickelson immediately reversed the score when he striped his approach to 1 foot at No. 1 and Stenson three-putted.
A good luck message from Swedish almost man Jesper Parnevik – twice a runner-up – also spurred Stenson on in an awesome round peppered with 10 birdies.
“We’ll never see perfection on a links like that ever again in our lives”, Nick Faldo said.
Without Mickelson there to push him, there’s no telling how this final round would be remembered. Twice on each nine, Stenson canned three birdies in a four-hole stretch.
Their worst-ball score would have been 69.
The Coventry bagman said: “We had a bet about a year and a half ago that if he won a Major I’d have to give up smoking”. That’s what Turnberry had. That’s why the edge goes to Turnberry for star power.
Mickelson remains on five majors, despite having started his week with that remarkable 63 of his own.
Stenson and Mickelson laughingly lapped the field.
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The golf was never better.
