Open champion Stenson dedicates victory to close pal who died of cancer

Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson following Sunday’s final round at the British Open.

Stenson recovered from dropping a shot at the par-four first by recording five birdies before the turn and also recording a birdie at the 10th.

Stenson, full of adrenaline on the 18th tee, hammered his tee shot 310 yards down the fairway and was mightily relieved to see it stop 12 inches short of one of Royal Troon’s fiendish pot bunkers. For the last four decades, the “Duel in the Sun” was the gold standard for head-to-head battles in a major championship, which are rare. I mean, Phil missed his eagle putt, so it looked like it was going to go in, and I expect him to make every putt; you have to.

In 2013 he followed a share of third place behind Mickelson in the Scottish Open by finishing runner-up to the left-hander in the Open at Muirfield, before also coming second in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, third at the US PGA Championship and winning the Deutsche Bank Championship and Tour Championship.

“Me, I said it yesterday, myself, Rory and Jordan were kind of on the bad side…it may be unlucky, but you’ve got to embrace it and try to play good”. “I didn’t get up and down for birdies”. “I played close to flawless golf and got beat”. Stenson made a matching birdie, pulling off a nifty up-and-down from the thick grass left of the green. Stenson started the final round with a one-shot lead over Mickelson, and knew it would be a two-man race from the opening hole when Mickelson almost holed out from the fairway.

Mickelson was aware of the parallels with one of the game’s classics.

The last birdie was for the record book. Stenson added after becoming only the second player to finish a major in 20 under par.

Mickelson, 46, was bidding to become the fourth-oldest major victor and join Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino with six majors.

In his acceptance speech, Stenson dedicated the win to a friend from Dubai who died of cancer this week: “I felt like he was there with me”. And it just snuck by and I’m standing over a five-footer down the hill to keep it to a head. “I was really trying an extra bit harder for him as well and it was really special to win, given that as well”. “I’m just delighted I managed to do that with a couple of birdies at the right time”.

Jack Nicklaus has hailed the final-round battle for the Open Championship as even better than the famous “Duel in the Sun”.

Jesper Parnevik was the last top player to come out of the Scandinavian country prior to Stenson, but his bogey at the last at Turnberry on the final day in 1994 cost him glory and he blew the lead on the Sunday at Troon three years later. They were in the final group for both days on the weekend.