Mickelson had not won since the British Open at Muirfield three years ago, with Stenson as the runner-up.
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Henrik Stenson of Sweden celebrates victory after the winning putt during the final round on day four of the 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon on July 17, 2016 in Troon, Scotland.
The two-horse race at Royal Troon, saw Stenson prevail by three shots, after the leading pair had gone blow-for-blow on a nail-biting final day. Stenson’s ball-striking was unreal, hitting 16-of-18 greens in regulation, and his putter was scorching hot as he needed only 27 putts to get around Royal Troon.
After making a mid-length birdie putt on the 14th hole, on the 15th Stenson sank this 50-footer from way downtown to pull into a two stroke lead. The next closest golfer was J.B. Holmes in third place at -6, a staggering 11 shots behind Mickelson and an incomprehensible 14 shots off Stenson’s pace.
The bottom line was Mickelson found more trouble than Stenson, hitting 64 percent of the fairways and 78 percent of greens in regulation.
Reminiscent of the historic Duel in the Sun 39 years ago, when Tom Watson got the better of Jack Nicklaus by one shot at Turnberry to win the Claret Jug, Mickelson and Stenson tussled from the first hole onward and didn’t settle this masterpiece until the final hole.
Stenson started walking when the putt was halfway there, stopping to pump his fist, rare emotion for a 40-year-old Swede with ice blue eyes.
Mickelson shot 65 for a 267 total.
Phil Mickelson may be disappointed that he wasn’t able to win The Open Championship, but he is still happy with his game.
His key spell came from the 14th hole, making three consecutive birdies to open up a two-shot lead. Indeed, from a scoring standpoint, he was the best ever in a major championship. Mickelson made a brilliant up-and-down after missing the green with his approach, almost holing out a chip over a bunker. Playing with a marker in the first group, he shot 76 on Sunday and finished at 17-over 301 for the tournament. Stenson leads at 12-under 201, while 46-year-old American Phil Mickelson is at 202.
Stenson became only the fourth player to win the British Open with all four rounds in the 60s, joining Tiger Woods, Nick Price and Greg Norman.
Mickelson was left cursing the “golfing gods” after his birdie putt to shoot the first 62 in major history lipped out on Thursday, but received a massive stroke of luck on the 12th.
They matched pars on only six of the 18 holes. Stenson said Parnevik sent him a message that said, “Go out and finish what I didn’t manage to finish”. Both players raced even further away from the field with absurd final round scores of 63 and 65 respectively, numbers not at all reflective of Royal Troon’s difficulty.
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Spieth hopes to build on that momentum at the PGA Championship in two weeks.
