Stenson wins classic duel with Mickelson

Mickelson had not won since the British Open at Muirfield three years ago, with Stenson as the runner-up.

Southgate had a 1-under 283 total and will earn an exemption into next year’s British Open at Birkdale. Jack Nicklaus was the best in golf with 14 majors, nearing the end of his prime at 37.

The Swede won his first major with precision.

And so he was with a superb Sunday 65, a round that began with a almost holed approach shot and was as good in quantity and quality as Nicklaus” fabled closer at the “86 Masters. During that stretch he sunk a 40-foot putt that seemed to hit Mickelson like a punch in the gut.

Third-round leader Wesley Bryant had a 70 tie for second.

Henrik Stenson of Sweden celebrates after getting a birdie on the 14th green during the final round of the British Open Golf Championship at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, Sunday, July 17, 2016.

Mickelson began with an approach that danced near the cup for a tap-in birdie.

When Stenson holed his final curving birdie across the 18th green he paused before pumping his fists and hugging his caddie.

Through a day of calming weather and a back nine pretty much absent of wind, the Stenson-Mickelson duel rose ever more remarkably above the field.

Henrik Stenson ended his long wait for a major championship with one of the greatest performances in the game’s history – and one he needed to stay clear of Phil Mickelson.

Neither golfer, however, could put a scare into Stenson or Mickelson, who, for one weekend, were at the center of the golfing world.

I’ve never seen a dual like Stenson and Mickelson waged, and Stenson got the last word with this preposterous putt.

And how did it measure up with his duel at Turnberry?

He got beat by arguably the best final round in 156 years of major championships.

“There’s been many great players from my country tried in past years and decades and there’s been a couple of really close calls”, he said.

Stenson, second to Mickelson in the 2013 Open, can finally celebrate a maiden major success at the age of 40, having become the fourth successive first-time victor in golf’s premier strokeplay events.

Miller came from six shots behind. That meant Stenson came to the 18th tee still holding a two stroke lead.

In an unbelievable display of golf, Stenson and Mickelson have combined for 10 birdies, an eagle and only two bogeys in the final round.

Stenson had not finished in the top 10 in a major since the 2014 PGA Championship, when he tied for third.

About the only concession to age Mickelson showed at Troon was wearing two gloves in wet conditions on Fridays, a precaution against a flare-up of the psoriatic arthritis that has caused him problems. He didn’t make a bogey or weaken in concentration or control in a shootout with Henrik Stenson.

Their worst-ball score would have been 69.

“He has been one of the best to play the game, certainly in the last 20 years”.

Imagine if this had been Mickelson and any of the “Fab Four” a generation or so behind him.

The Swede carded an eight-under-par 63 to record a Championship-record 20-under total and win by three shots.

For golf? Nothing touches Troon. Oh, and his 63 was just the 29th time someone’s gone that low in a major.

Phil Mickelson bemoaned the golfing gods denying him the first 62 at a major on Thursday – on Sunday he played against one of them. “For this week both of them were on a different planet”.