It was an astounding final round of play, from two of golf’s elder statesmen. But maybe astounding doesn’t quite describe it.
The epic toe-to-toe slugfest at Royal Troon was reminiscent of the legendary “Duel in the Sun” at Turnberry in 1977 between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. And much like that round, this one will become immortalized with legendary status.
It didn’t get any better than that.
Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson Changed the Golf Narrative
It was the ultimate two horse race, between two men at the twilight’s of their careers, one with a career of defining moments, the other looking for his first.
So as the day ensued, Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson went shot for shot, trading blows in one of the most memorable final rounds in the game’s long and illustrious history.
It was like Ali and Frazier in Manila, Bird and Magic in the 80s, Federer and Nadal in their primes. But this time it played out on ancient grounds, along the shoreline of the Firth of Clyde.
Mickelson came into the final round on the tides of a surprising surge in the first three rounds. He did not disappoint on Sunday, shooting bogey-free, six-under-par 65.
His lowest score ever posted in a major championship. In most years that would have been enough and Mickelson would be hoisting the Claret Jug.
Four birdies and an eagle. Yet he still lost. By three.
Stenson’s Historic Round
Stenson began his round with a bogey, a disconcerting start for the man coming into the round leading by one stroke, poised to become his nation’s first ever major champion.
He made another bogey at the course’s hardest hole. But his ten birdies were enough to make him only the second golfer in history to win a major with a final round 63.
With birdies traded and gut-wrenching pars made, a battle for the ages broke out on Troon’s bedraggled grounds, tussling back and forth until the masterpiece was settled on the final hole.
Stenson played with a steely determination all day, holding off the 46 year old Mickelson who was looking to become the oldest winner of golf’s oldest major championship since Old Tom Morris in the 19th century.
Stenson, one of the game’s greatest ball strikers, had one question surrounding him. Could his putting be enough to earn him the win?
Stenson’s Hot Putter
That question was answered early in the round on the second hole, when Stenson sunk a 12-foot birdie putt to tie Mickelson.
Then again on the third hole, with a 15-foot birdie putt to regain the lead.
Mickelson eagled the fourth, but Stenson made his third birdie on the first four holes to keep pace.
The birdie barrage was too much for Mickelson to handle.
The Turning Point
The pivotal hole of the round, and of the tournament, came on the 15th. Stenson missed the green with his approach shot. But from the fringe, Stenson ignited the crowd by rolling in a 51-foot birdie putt to give him a two shot lead.
A lead which he would not surrender.
It was golf as it was meant to be played, on a course that allowed men to succeed who played and putted well. There were no gimmicks at Troon. There were certainly no fakers.
For the 40-year old Stenson, this win is the culmination of a career that produced seven top-four finishes in major championships before Sunday. Always in contention, it felt inevitable that the Swede would eventually win one.
Stenson was first in greens-in-regulation, fifth in fairways hit, eleventh in driving distance, made six more birdies than anyone else in the field, and was top 5 in the putting stats. It was an overwhelmingly dominant performance.
Appropriate for the Champion Golfer of the Year.
Mickelson proved a gallant adversary for Stenson, as together the two golfers changed the golfing narrative of the past half-decade or so, that the game was in the hands of the Big Four and the other key cogs in the machine that is golf’s transformative youth movement.
But for one day, in Western Scotland, the clock was turned back. For one day, two weathered 40-somethings went shot-for-shot in an iconic showdown. It was part Odyssean tale, part sporting event.
Just like Watson and Nicklaus did, after that battle in 1977 at Turnberry, Mickelson and Stenson walked off the 18th green, arms around the other’s shoulders, creating a hallowed scene as the sun peaked through the clouds.
Perfection. Pure perfection.
Main Photo:
