PHIL OUT TO FOIL SWEDE DREAMS
Stenson can end misery of Nordic near-misses in final showdown with Mickelson
THE final round of the 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon today looks like being a classic matchplay duel between the much-decorated Phil Mickelson and the formidable Swede, Henrik Stenson.
American versus European, left hander versus right, five-time major winner against a man still trying to join the club. One man attempting, at 46, to become the oldest winner since Old Tom Morris won the Challenge Belt in 1867 against the iceman seeking to become the first Scandinavian man to win a major.
It might not be the contest many were hoping for but there will be no shortage of classy ball-striking on show nor of short-game wizardry or fascination.
These two craftsmen have put a good distance between themselves and the rest of the field following another trying Ayrshire day, where scoring was made difficult by a gusting wind that blew across so many holes, rather than behind or against.
Yes, there was a wonderful cameo from Englishman Andrew Johnston, who has become a cult hero during the past three days with a demonstration of characterful expression any sport would crave. There was also Rory McIlroy’s latest tut-tut moment in a week that will not linger long in his memory, as he snapped a three-wood in anger to complete a day of mounting frustration.
Other than that, the proceedings were dominated by the pair of frontrunners, with Stenson sneaking into a one-shot lead courtesy of a gutsy birdie at the par-three 17th to his playing partner’s bogey.
Stenson finished with a terrific 68 for a 12-under-par total of 201 to Mickelson’s 70.
A distant third is American Bill Haas, who shot a worthy 69 but still found he made no inroads to lie six shots off the pace. Then comes the ebullient Johnston.
The fab four? Not so fab this week, alas, with McIlroy the best of them, albeit a mammoth 11 shots off the pace. Like the other three — Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson — he’s playing for pride today.
We expected a charge from someone but none came, with defending champion Zach Johnson among those who played themselves out of contention with a 75. By the back nine it became clear that Mickelson and Stenson were forging ahead.
If Mickelson goes on to join Sir Nick Faldo on six majors he might well look back on the four holes to begin the back nine of his third round as a pivotal passage towards his triumph.
One of the toughest stretches of the course, how he played them in one under par only he will know. But that’s Phil the thrill all over, isn’t it? At the 11th he hit his drive so poorly it didn’t even reach the worst of the trouble. Taking an iron off the 12th tee for safety he all but shanked it to the edge of disaster. Yet still he walked off both holes with par, thanks to his still-mesmerising work around the greens.
At the 13th he stepped it up several gears with two wonderful shots and rolled in the 12ft birdie putt. As he walked off the green he gave his ball to a young fan whose joy was unconfined, and no wonder. He’d just been given a ball that had been on a magical fairway ride, as Mickelson established a two-shot lead.
Fifteen minutes later, how Mickelson must have wished he’d kept it, when he three-putted from no distance at the 14th to drop his first shot of the day. Alongside a Stenson birdie, the lead had gone just like that.
It had been a real slow-burner of a day but now it had a gripping feel as Mickelson carved out a fine birdie at the par-five 16th to move ahead again. But Stenson had the last word on this day.
The litany of near-misses compiled by Scandinavian golfers in majors makes for reading as bleak as any crime novel by Henning Mankell or Jo Nesbo. Over the years the great and the good from the region have won close to 150 tournaments on the European and PGA Tours but remarkably, none in the four events that matter the most.
Now the latest of countless opportunities has moved i nto view although given what has happened in the past, the Nordic nation will probably be watching from behind the sofa with a Pils — or maybe pills — in hand.
It was down the road from here at Turnberry in 1994 that Jesper Parnevik should have got the first one on the board. He made the fatal mistake of not looking at a leaderboard on the 18th. Believing he needed a birdie to tie Nick Price when a par would have done, he made a bogey to lose by one.
Then there was the Dane Thomas Bjorn, who should have won at least a couple, including the 2003 Open at Royal St George’s when he took an excruciating three strokes to get out a bunker at the 16th hole on the final day.
Stenson would have won himself in 2013 in the blissful sunshine at Muirfield, only to be foiled by one of the finest rounds in Open history. The man who played it, of course, was Mickelson.
Now the pair will be going at it hammer and tong one more time today.
Who’s your money on?