Mickelson continues to lead at Royal Troon

The British Open was fortified by the over-40s on Saturday as Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson produced a ding-dong tussle to turn golf’s oldest major into a gripping two-man slugfest.

A win also would make Mickelson the seventh consecutive American to win the British Open at Troon.

Mickelson, 46, is looking to become the oldest player to win the Claret Jug since 1867 and the fourth-oldest major victor ever.

Justin Rose believes with better luck he could have been challenging for the Open Championship. Blame that on the weather.

Day one was a day full of sunshine, warm temperatures, and low scores. Not too loudly, anyway.

“I really enjoy the challenge that this weather and these elements provide”, he said.

“Some draws go your way and some draws don’t”, he said, remembering how fortuitous he was during his victory at Hoylake in 2014. But I held it together nicely coming in, and played the last five holes at one under par.

“This year it’s not so much”.

“I thought it was a good round to back up the low round yesterday”.

The nature of links golf, and this championship, is getting the good side of the tee times.

He also knew it wasn’t going to be a procession, and emerging out of the in-out gloom came Sweden’s Henrik Stenson with a six-under 65 that was remarkable given the conditions, trimming Mickelson’s three-shot lead to one with two rounds left.

Mickelson, looking slightly the steadier of the two leaders, then rolled in three nerve-tingling putts at the 10th, 11th and 12th to remain one in front at 11-under. The first 36 holes have produced some fascinating golf-the final 36 holes will likely only add more to the mixture with The Claret Jug awaiting the next “champion golfer of the year”.

The top 14 on the leaderboard played later in the day Thursday and earlier Friday. Phil’s play on the back nine included two bogeys at #12 and #15, with a birdie at the par-3 14th.

While Stenson performed well throughout his round, he saw how the heavy winds impacted play later in the day.

“It was tough out there again, even though as normal the front nine gave you some more opportunities and I got off to a flying start, hit some great shots, took some opportunities”, said Stenson. “But at 4-over par, my game is not major championship-winning caliber those first two rounds”. I found a way to get the ball in the hole, make pars, and that’s all that I really care about.

But the two-time major victor, who missed out on the play-off at St Andrews a year ago by a single shot, then bogeyed the ninth and 10th and ran up a double bogey on the 11th on his way to a disappointing 72.

He said: “It was ridiculous”. I had a chance to watch Phil yesterday afternoon and this morning, and it’s the best I’ve seen him play in a long, long time.

Tournaments, and indeed majors, have been won from further back; Paul Lawrie was 10 shots off the lead ahead of the final round at Carnoustie in 1999. Even so, he came up with the rights shots at the right time until Stenson passed him late in the afternoon.

The Irishman was not one to complain, and he stands as an example of how best to handle such situations.

With winds forecast to reach speeds of 30mph, tournament organisers had opted not to cut or roll the greens and moved tees forward on the eighth, 11th, 16th and 17th, although Jordan Spieth felt the last two changes were “unnecessary”. Such is The Open.

Certainly, the wrong side of the draw did a number on Billy Horschel.