STENSON ON LAST YEAR’S OPEN: IT WAS MY FINEST
▶ A year after his record win, Swede reflects on showdown with Mickelson and other mental souvenirs
Henrik Stenson was so determined to win the British Open last year that he had no idea how well he had actually played.
The Swede, until that point considered one of the finest golfers never to have captured a major, battled playing partner Phil Mickelson around Royal Troon late on Sunday, in a final-round match-up that many have since labelled the greatest duel in the sport’s history.
Stenson fired 10 birdies and shot 63. Mickelson carded a bogey-free 65 to come up just short. Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, whose vaunted “Duel in the Sun” at the 1977 Open now had a genuine rival, even conceded that had been surpassed.
For Stenson, it just took a while to sink in.
“As focused and in the moment that I was the last four, five holes, I don’t think I’ve ever been that on the golf course,” he said almost 12 months on, in a conference call organised by the PGA Tour. “It really gave me the answer what it means to be in the zone.
“I didn’t even realise I made 10 birdies when I saw the recording. “It was actually Phil that looked up on the scorecard and said, ‘Really? 10 birdies in the final round?’
“It’s just my finest performance in terms of playing and also mentally, to stay focused on what’s important. To execute the whole round like that was really an achievement.” Wasn’t it just? Stenson had been close to breaking his major duck before, finishing tied-third at the Open in 2008 and 2010, then second in 2013.
He had top-three finishes at the PGA Championship, too, climbed to No 2 in the world rankings, topped both the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai standings in the same year.
Yet a major continued to elude him. Sweden’s wait for a male major winner rumbled on. Then Stenson went out and shot 63 to win by three.
He recovered from a bogey on the first hole, when Mickelson replaced him at the top of the leaderboard.
Once Stenson sank a 20-footer on the last for a 10th birdie, he had matched Johnny Miller for the lowest closing round by a major champion.
His 20-under 264 was also the lowest 72-hole score in a major. Very much one for the