Open leader Henrik Stenson is fully prepared for the head-to-head battle with familiar foe Phil Mickelson as he goes looking for revenge after being pipped to the Claret Jug in 2013.
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Not since Davis Love III and Justin Leonard shared the lead and were seven shots clear of the field in the 1997 PGA Championship has the final round of a major took on the appearance of match play.
Note: This post will be updated throughout the final round and when the tournament is complete. Stenson leads at 12-under 201, while 46-year-old American Phil Mickelson is at 202. He also ended a streak of six American winners at Royal Troon that dated to 1950. No one else is within six shots of the lead.
Check out the leaderboard at the British Open.
They’ve already had several encounters this year.
Johnston is quite a character.
With a comment like that he sounds like he’s from the U.S.
Another big meal might be in order after the way Beef is playing this week.
Dustin Johnson bemoaned one costly hole after failing to make inroads during his third round.
Mickelson, ranked No. 19 in the world, and Stenson, No. 6, were putting on a clinic.
“I have been saying all week you have to get off to a good start and be under par early and I wasn’t able to do that”, he added.
The Northern Irishman recorded four birdies on his outward nine, then bogeys at the 11th and 12th, before picking up further shots at 13 and 16. “Some days it’s hard and it looks bad, like it did (Saturday)”. It was on Thursday, too. Phil Mickelson spun his approach shot about two feet from the flag and tapped in for birdie and a one-stroke lead.
The day turned on the 17th hole.
Jordan Spieth’s problem has been the flat stick with 91 putts in three rounds.
Rickie Fowler started well until an 8 on the 11th hole. Mickelson’s short game briefly betrayed him with a poor chip and he missed an 18 foot par putt. He limped home with a 72 and is 5-over for the tournament.
“It’s very straightforward in front of the greens”. You hit good solid shots, the ball ends up where you want it to be. “I just feel like good shots really get rewarded here more so than other links courses that I’ve played”.
“The Railway” hole can prove to be a card-wrecker at Royal Troon.
An errant drive at the 555-yard fourth hole forced Lefty to settle for a par.
Five-times major champion Mickelson, however, refused to be cowed and an eagle three at the fourth followed by a birdie two holes later meant he was only one behind at the turn.
No male Swedish golfer has ever won a major championship. Given the conditions, it’s going to be hard for any player to go very low Saturday. The wind has died down, and the sun even broke through a clouds a few times Sunday.
The inward nine is proving to be a real beast, however.
On another cool, rainy day at Royal Troon, it looks like a two-man showdown.
J.B. Holmes won the B-Flight. The 1861 Open was held in September.
Players who had afternoon tee times on day one played on a golf course with absolutely no wind.
Montgomerie said he likely won’t attempt to qualify for the Open again. He plays on the senior circuit now.
Mickelson shot 65 for a 267 total.
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The 22-year-old suffered a late meltdown at the Masters in April, squandering a five-shot lead over the closing nine holes. 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. He was one of only 13 players to break par on a day of intermittent showers and gusts of up to 30 miles per hour off the Irish Sea.
