Top-5 Moments PGA Tour Season: #1. The Open Championship

With a few weeks until the PGA Tour returns, here’s a look back at 2015-16 season’s top moments, as on this occasion we focus on The Open Championship.

As the PGA Tour takes a few weeks off and won’t return again until January, now seemed like the perfect time to look back at the season that just passed.

This season has given us so many thrilling tournaments, and with them many thrilling moments.

Over the last few days and weeks, I took a look back at the some of the top moments that have played out over this past season and just what made them so memorable.

#1: Stenson and Mickelson’s Low Scoring Duel at Troon

For the year’s third major, the Open Championship swung into Royal Troon in Scotland. For most of the week, the course played pretty hard for the field. As a result, there weren’t many low scores on the leaderboard. That is of course, with the exception of a couple of the world’s top golfers. Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson didn’t seem to have as much trouble with the course as the rest of the field, as evident from their incredibly low tournament scores.

Mickelson started his tournament off with a bang. He torched Royal Troon in the first round by posting an eight-under 63 to start the week with a three stroke lead. Meanwhile, Stenson wasn’t able to match the scorching hot play of Mickelson, and had to settle for a respectable three-under 68.

Although he wasn’t able to match Mickelson’s pace in the first round, Stenson stepped up his game when he came out onto the course the next day. This time it was his day as he posted a six-under 65 while Mickelson came back down to earth with a two-under 69.

After a rather uneventful third round in which Mickelson posted a one-under 70 while Stenson posted a three-under 68, the stage was set for a Sunday showdown. Heading into the final round, Stenson’s 12-under tournament score was good for a one stroke lead over Mickelson.

After the first nine holes of the final round, Mickelson was unable to gain ground on Stenson as his eagle and two birdies were only good enough to match Stenson’s five birdies and one bogey. Both golfers were four-under on the day, keeping Stenson’s lead at one stroke. Additionally, at that point, it was clear that the winner of the 2016 Open Championship would be one of the two as they were both way ahead of the rest of the field.

Throughout the remaining nine holes, Mickelson just wasn’t able to match the pace of Stenson, posting just two birdies. Stenson continued his hot streak, notching five more birdies to just one bogey.

As a result, Stenson emerged victorious in the low scoring duel that placed the next best golfer, JB Holmes, an incredible 11 strokes behind second place Mickelson and 14 strokes behind Stenson. More importantly however, Stenson finally captured his ever elusive first major championship win.

Next: Top-5 Moments of 2015-16 PGA Tour Season: #2. The Waste Management Phoenix Open

The top moments countdown of the 2015-16 season is complete. Let us know your favorite moments of the season in the comments below.

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Top-5 Moments of 2015-16 PGA Tour Season: #1. The Open Championship

By Brandon Musso | Dec 30, 2016

With a few weeks until the PGA Tour returns, here’s a look back at 2015-16 season’s top moments, as on this occasion we focus on The Open Championship.

#1: Stenson and Mickelson’s Low Scoring Duel at Troon