Phil Mickelson kisses the Claret Jug before final round at Open Championship

Stenson had his third straight round in the 60s – no one has ever won at Royal Troon with all four rounds in the 60s – and was at 12-under 201.

Stenson made 10 birdies and finished at 20 under to win his maiden major, shattering Mickelson’s heart and records along the way, including the lowest total ever shot in a major and the lowest score in relation to par in Open history.

SUNDAY – FINAL ROUND WEATHER FORECAST Temperatures will be relatively cool in the upper 50s to near 60 degrees through the day at Royal Troon.

Henrik Stenson takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the British Open, looking to become the first male golfer from Sweden to win a major golf championship. The third-place finisher, J.B. Holmes, wound up 11 shots behind Mickelson and 14 behind Stenson.

“The Railway” hole can prove to be a card-wrecker at Royal Troon. And he couldn’t touch Stenson.

And with a one-stroke lead at the top of the leaderboard, Henrik Stenson is attempting to become the first Swedish victor of a Major title. They both beat him by multiple strokes. “So it’s inspiring. I know I’ll have to bring my best”, he said.

The superlatives flow like the wine will later from that jug.

He’s in the hunt for his second Open Championship win and a meeting with the Claret Jug once again.

The 22-year-old Texan had gone 10 straight rounds in major championships without breaking par. Aware he was up against another favourite with many in these parts Stenson was appreciative of what backing he received.

As it is, Stricker is at 3-under 210 for the tournament and probably too far back to make a run at becoming golf’s oldest major champion.

All day fans and media members tried to slap a catchy name on this blow-for-blow match. This kind of performance needs only be written about in red numbers, not headlined in black letters.

Records didn’t matter. This was about winning his first major.

Then, at No. 3, Stenson made an 18-foot birdie putt to push his score to 13 under.

“He wasn’t going to give it to me”, Stenson said, “so I had to pull away”. “I knew I had to keep on pushing, keep on giving myself birdie chances”. “If I did come face-to-face with him, what I might do to him could get me arrested also”.

“I feel very privileged to be the one to hold this trophy”.

“Yeah, thoughts of the outcome is never really helping you”. Then his five-foot birdie on No. 16, which matched Mickelson’s birdie after Mickelson came within an inch of an eagle, kept him at advantage.

Stenson didn’t appear nervous the evening before the biggest day of his golf career.

“I remember we were sitting in the kitchen when he had his first slump and he mentioned something like, ‘Maybe I should quit, ‘ or something”, Emma Stenson said. It was really impressive golf.

“I was off today, I didn’t have my best stuff”.

Not since Davis Love and Justin Leonard shared the lead and were seven shots clear of the field in the 1997 PGA Championship had the final round of a major took on the appearance of match play. “Usually that’s good enough to do it, and I got beat”.

The day turned on the 17th hole.

The birdie on N0.

But the intimidating 11th claimed its final victim of the week when Stenson three-putted from the fringe, although he looked set to be gifted back the outright lead when Mickelson got into bother for the second day running after a wayward drive at 12 only to emulate his third-round escape act when he sank a 15-foot putt to salvage a par.

“The game of golf, it just comes and goes”, he said.

“We’ve been friends for some time”. I’m happy that he did. That’s not how I play my best.