‘Duel in the Wind’ awaits as Stenson and Mickelson pull clear of pack
Swede takes one-shot lead in pursuit of his first major Englishman Johnston stays in contention with a 70
‘The Duel in the Wind and Rain’ does not quite have the ring of ‘The Duel in the Sun’, but that does not necessarily mean that Henrik Stenson’s battle royale with Phil Mickelson here is not living up to all those great Open Championship head-to-heads of yesteryear.
Stenson grabbed a one-shot lead on 12 under, but knows that Mickelson still has plenty to throw at him. The pair are six and five shots clear and, with respect to the rest, look to be playing in their own private tournament.
Of course, it is possible that Bill Haas in third on six under or Andrew ‘Beef ’ Johnston, the English hero of the week, in fourth on five under could haul them back.
Yet everything to this point suggests Mickelson and Stenson are operating on a different level. So much is at stake in this two-horse race.
“I have a second and two thirds at the Open, so it’s not like I’m looking to pick up any more of those,” Stenson said. “There’s only one thing that matters tomorrow. I know he’s not going to back down, and I’m certainly going to try to not back down either. I would have had to bring my best no matter who I was out with tomorrow but certainly when you’re playing someone like Phil. It should be an exciting afternoon.”
Stenson has seven top-four finishes in the majors trailing only Lee Westwood (nine top-fours) and Sergio García (eight) in the nearly-man stakes. The nearest the Swede came in the Open to breaking his country’s male-major void, was three years ago behind Mickelson and with tongue very firmly in cheek he agreed that there will be a measure of revenge.
“Yeah, I was one of the guys who was up there at Muirfield and Phil won it very deservingly,” Stenson said. “But it would be great to hand one back to him, absolutely.
“But as we know it’s going to take some good golfing to do that, but I’m definitely willing to give it a try.”
He merely needs more of the same. Mickelson, with his five majors, began one ahead of Stenson, but that advantage was eliminated when his pursuer birdied the first. On another windy, drizzly day which would again have tempted the Americans to ask why the British do not play their major in summer, Stenson, the 40-year-old from Gothenburg, birdied the third and fourth to claim the lead. It was the first time Mickelson had not been on top of the leaderboard since the 14th hole of his first round.
Yet Mickelson, the 46-year-old trying to win his second Claret Jug in four years and so become the second oldest Open champion and the oldest majorwinner ever to go wire-to-wire, did not flinch.
As Stenson bogeyed the eighth, Mickelson held firm and, after making one of his ridiculous saves on the 12th, where he drove into the gorse, he curled in a 30-footer on the 13th to go two ahead.
Yet things can change very quickly at Troon and on the next there was a two-shot swing as Stenson birdied and Mickelson bogeyed. The veterans were locked again and so they went at it like two prizefighters slugging it out for one their sport’s most coveted belts.
Mickelson birdied the 16th but there was another two-shot turnaround on the par-three 17th when the left-hander uncharacteristically failed to get up and down and Stenson holed a 25-footer for birdie. And then, after a sublime bunker save from Mickelson, Stenson nervelessly rescued his own par from left off the green.
“It’s a great opportunity and a great challenge,” Mickelson said. “I was off today, I didn’t have my best stuff and I was a little bit short of my rhythm. It could have been a day that got away from me but I’m pleased I found a way to shoot under par and kept myself in it.”
A 68 for Stenson and a 70 from Mickelson were two notable efforts under this pressure, in these conditions. They have made this championship their own.
Saying that, Johnston is an absolute joy to behold. The 27-year-old ‘Everyman from Barnet’ plays with a smile in his face and seemingly without a care in the world, waddling his portly frame down the fairways here as if he is dreading deep into dreamland. But then, of course he is.
As one or two of the game’s superstars could be accused of taking themselves a bit too seriously, his rise has been perfectly timed. His chip-in on the 13th was one of the moments of this event so far. Johnston is no golfing clown, however. This 70 was his third round under par, which is some achievement for a character playing in only his second Open and third major. “The chip-in was funny and when I saw my mum crying, that was even funnier,” Johnston said.
All in all, it has been another promising week for young English professionals, with Tyrrell Hatton, the 24-year-old from High Wycombe, also on the brink of the top 10 on one under after a solid 71.
Hatton recorded his finest result as a professional last Sunday at the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart, where he finished second and earned his place here. He has grasped the opportunity magnificently. “I think that’s the best I’ve ever played, especially in those conditions,” Hatton said. “Usually I struggle with wind but I felt I dealt with that really well.”
And what of the Fab Four, that elite quartet at the top of the rankings about whom so much of the build-up concerned? Well, barring something which would be deemed extraordinary even by the standards of these young men, they will not be troubling the engravers. Rory McIlroy experienced one of his meltdowns, on the 16th, when he hurled his three wood into the ground and it smashed into two. On the evidence of this 72, which left him on level par in a tie for 18th, he would have been wiser to demolish his putter.
With Dustin Johnson on one under, Jason Day on one over and Jordan Spieth on five over they could have own competition.
Indeed, an enthralling day could be full of them on a day when the Open should witness its fourth 40-something winner in six years. The links is no country for young men.
‘I know Phil is not going to back down and I am not going to back down either. It should be exciting’