Over-40s set the pace at the British Open
THE British Open was fortified by the over-40s yesterday as Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson produced a ding-dong tussle to turn golf’s oldest major into a gripping two-man slugfest.
It was a case of parry and thrust from the Swede and the American as Royal Troon showed its teeth for the second day running, the winds whipping up to 40kph on the west coast of Scotland and making good scoring extremely tough.
Stenson, 40, bidding to become the first Scandinavian male to win a major championship, began the day one behind his playing partner and ended it one in front after a 68, the joint-lowest round of the day, left him on 12-under-par 201.
Mickelson, 46, who is hoping to become the oldest winner of the tournament in the modern era, returned a 70.
Stenson’s score of 12-under-par is the lowest 54-hole total recorded in an Open at Troon, beating the previous record held by Jesper Parnevik by one shot.
Mickelson, the 2013 champion, had three birdies, but dropped shots at the 14th and 17th cost him the lead and he only saved par at the last after finding himself in a greenside bunker.
In third spot, a distant six strokes off the pace, was American Bill Haas (69), with Andrew Johnston (70) flying the flag for Britain in fourth position.
The popular Johnston, inspired by the fans crying out his nickname ‘Beef, Beef’ at almost every hole, ended up on 208, one shot ahead of American JB Holmes, who shot 69.
It was a bad day for Rory McIlroy, who will be fined for snapping his three iron in two after he pushed his approach shot on the 16th.
It would appear though that his putter was more to blame as he missed several short putts as he battled to a 73, which took him back to level par for the tournament.
Jordan Speith also failed to live up to his reputation as he fell into a tie for 50th at 5-over par after more poor putting.
World No 1 Jason Day shot 71 to take him to one-over par admitting that he had played ‘terribly all week’.
However, he may have been too hard on himself.
During this third round, the Golf Channel flashed up a stat which stated that, in the last two Opens held at Troon, the field is 28 under on the front nine — and 2124 over on the back nine.
And that sums up the split personality of this delicious Ayrshire links rather perfectly. — Reuters and © The Daily Telegraph