Henrik Stenson produced one of the great final-round performances to overcome Phil Mickelson in a sensational battle and win his first major title at the 145th Open Championship.
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The man who finished third this year, J.B. Holmes, was 11 shots off Mickelson’s pace. “Usually that’s good enough”. He called his friend Stenson “a great champion”.
Stenson’s 72-hole total of 264 also beat the best in any major set by David Toms in the 2001 US PGA and was three lower than the previous Open record set by Greg Norman at Sandwich in 1993.
The Sunday showdown between Stenson and Mickelson will go down in Open Championship lore, as the two lapped the field. They were tied with five holes to play until Stenson made an 18-foot birdie on the par-3 14th, and then buried Lefty with a putt that defined his moment as a major champion.
He kept hitting the best shots of his life, one after another, and he needed each one to stay ahead of Phil Mickelson in a British Open duel that ranked among the best in major championship history. “It seems like it was not going to be anyone else but the two of us. I’m delighted I was able to do that”.
Records didn’t matter. This was about winning his first major.
Stenson hammered in a 50-foot birdie putt across the 15th green, walking toward the hole as it was on its way, stopping halfway to pump his fist when it fell, rare emotion for a 40-year-old Swede with ice blue eyes and a stare that can cut through gorse.
Mickelson nearly chipped in for another birdie on the second after a wayward approach, but it was Stenson who found the bottom of the cup from 15 feet to draw level.
“I feel with the conditions that I faced this week I played pretty well”, he said.
“It’s not something you want to run around and shout, but I felt like this was going to be my turn”, said the Swede, whose Open record overall score of 20 under par at Royal Troon gave him a three-stroke winning margin over Mickelson.
But Stenson atoned for his error with a 12-foot putt on the second after Mickelson grazed the edge of the hole with his chip, and the Swede was back in front on the next as he drained another putt from similar range.
“I knew that he would ultimately come through and win”.
However, he promptly fought back with a remarkable 10 birdies en route to a major championship record-equalling low round of 63 to seal the deal in style.
“Wow, this will take a little while to sink in”, said Stenson as he held aloft the coveted Claret Jug.
“After the second day I was never going to win this golf tournament”.
Mickelson, seeking his sixth major title at age 46, did all he could to capture the claret jug. “There were a few mistakes in there, and if I could take back anything it would probably be the first nine holes on Saturday”.
It places him into a sole second behind Jack Nicklaus (19) on the quantitative list of all-time runners-up in majors, which won’t do much to change the minds of those who paint him with the same broad brush as baseball’s Atlanta Braves and football’s Buffalo Bills on lists of history’s most famous bridesmaids. Stenson said Parnevik send him a message that said, “Go out and finish what I didn’t manage to finish”.
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Golf’s top four players have withdrawn from the Olympics, but the Rio Games will have at least two of this year’s major champions – Stenson and Masters victor Danny Willett of England.
