Henrik Stenson’s epic shootout win over Phil Mickelson in the Open is even greater than Tom Watson’s ‘Duel in the Sun’ triumph over legend Jack Nicklaus in 1977
Swede success was rounded off in style just like that famous finish 39 years ago as the two rivals embrace at the 18th hole
THE old-timers will tell you the ‘Duel in the Sun’ 24 miles up the Ayrshire coast was better than this. They are liars.
It was as good, maybe. But better? Never.
Fittingly, just as Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus did at Turnberry in 1977, the triumphant Henrik Stenson and gallant runner-up Phil Mickelson embraced and walked off the 18th green at Troon with arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders.
This was another classic shootout for the ages, between two men who seemed to be playing a different course to the rest of the field.
Third-placed JB Holmes was 11 shots adrift of Mickelson and 14 behind Stenson, as the big two threw a total of 14 birdies and an eagle at each other.
Henrik finds fairway to heaven
HENRIK STENSON may be over the moon in Troon but he once walked out of a tournament claiming he “could not hit the planet, never mind a fairway”.
Stenson’s disappearing act came after nine holes of the 2001 European Open at Dublin’s K Club.
But the wheel turned full circle in 2006 when he holed the winning putt on his Ryder Cup debut, at the same course.
Stenson created quite a buzz that week with a pen that gave team-mates an electric shock when he got them to write their contact details with it.
Now, after losing millions in the 2009 Stanford investment scandal, Stenson is causing a buzz again. Nobody will enjoy that more than this fun-loving Swede.
Thankfully, it was settled by one man playing even more stupendous golf than his final-round rival, rather than being decided by a costly mistake or a stroke of good fortune.
Terror-strewn Troon? Not for these two, as 40-year-old Stenson fired an eight-under-par 63 to equal the lowest round in any Major, while his 20-under-par total was a record for The Open, erasing Tiger Woods’ 19 under at St Andrews in 2000.
That 20 under also equalled the Major championship record set by Jason Day at last year’s USPGA, while Stenson’s winning score of 264 was THREE shots lower than the previous best — Greg Norman’s 267 at Royal St George’s 23 years ago. Talk about winning your first Major in style!
Mickelson, 46, did absolutely nothing wrong. If you had told him at the start of the day he would shoot 65 and lose by three shots, he would have called for the men in white coats.
At least that opening-round putt for the first 62 in Major history that inexplicably refused to fall into the hole did not prove the difference between victory and defeat.
And there was a glorious symmetry to the fact the two men who exerted such a colossal influence on this tournament should have provided 63s to bookend a truly great Open.
Stenson’s three-shot winning margin did not do justice to the pulsating nature of this breathlessly exciting head-to-head.
It was a straight matchplay shootout from the word go.
If these two are drawn against each other at the Ryder Cup in September, the Hazeltine galleries will be packed 20 deep. The pendulum swung crazily, one way and then the other.
They were still neck-and-neck with seven holes to play and there was never more than a shot in it until the 15th.
Stenson turned the screw with a stunning hat-trick of birdies from the 14th and Mickelson could only throw one back in reply, at the 16th.
Then the Swedish star made it four birdies in his final five holes by draining a 20-footer on the 18th.
It was the climax this battle deserved.
Stenson had three putts for the title but a timid lag would have been totally out of sync with what had gone on before.
The world No 6 seemed uncertain about how to celebrate but gave a big fist-pump, leaned backwards and let out a triumphant yell.
He then hugged caddie Gareth Lord before turning to console Mickelson.
A kiss for wife Emma, a former US college golfer herself, and it was time to hoist the famous Claret Jug high in the air.
Stenson loves to boast that he has Viking blood coursing through his veins and no one could have stood against Henrik the Great in this mood.
It was also sweet revenge for the most painful of his five previous near-misses in the Majors, when he was runner-up to Mickelson in The Open at Muirfield three years ago.
When he snatched a share of the 2013 lead with eight holes to go, he felt his time had come. But Lefty dashed his hopes with birdies at three of the final four holes.
Trust Stenson to turn the tables by going one better this time.
This was an Open that will live long in the memory — and not just for the no-holds-barred scrap between two men playing some of the finest golf of their lives.
We also had two Englishmen providing great storylines, with the ever-smiling Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston gathering an army of supporters and Matthew Southgate delivering one of sport’s most heart-warming displays a year after surgery for testicular cancer.