Stenson Shoots 63 to Win Open Championship

After a marvelous 63 to close out his week at Royal Troon, Henrik Stenson is a major champion at last.

It couldn’t have gone any better — Sunday at the 145th Open Championship was an exhibition of some of the finest golf in major championship history. Royal Troon held up pretty well over the weekend, but it was no match for the final pairing of Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson.

The two veterans, already five strokes clear of the rest of the field to start the day, fired magnificent rounds to close the tournament. Ultimately, Stenson found another gear and ended up with a 63 to finish three strokes ahead of Mickelson. It was the 40-year-old’s first major title, as well as the first major win by any Swedish player.

Leading by one to start the day, Stenson put himself in an immediate hole with a three-putt bogey on the first — Mickelson’s birdie on that same hole resulted in a two-shot swing. However, it didn’t take long for Stenson to recover, as he birdied five of his next eight holes to reach 16-under. Mickelson, playing pretty well himself, eagled the fourth to keep pace with his opponent and made the turn trailing by a single stroke.

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Both players birdied the 10th, but Stenson gave one back at the 11th. For a brief stretch of three holes, the two men were tied, and the stage was set for a neck-and-neck finish. However, Stenson achieved liftoff as he headed for home, circling birdies on 14, 15 and 16. Mickelson had no answer, and a birdie on the finishing hole put an exclamation point on the Swede’s victory.

With his win, Stenson set both aggregate and to-par scoring records at The Open Championship. The distance between second place and the rest of the field — 11 strokes — was the largest in major championship history.

Stenson ended up with 10 birdies during the final round, a testament to his absolute dominance of Royal Troon. Mickelson went bogey-free and secured five par breakers; his 65 was a career-best score during the final round of a major. It all added up to one of the greatest days of golf in recent memory.

For Stenson, the win was certainly a career-changer. Entering this week, he’d put together a nice career and established a reputation as one of the game’s most consistent players, but he’d never gotten it done on the world’s biggest stage. Now with a major championship in addition to his 13 worldwide wins, his Hall of Fame chances appear to be shaping up nicely.

The third man on the leaderboard, J.B. Holmes, finished at six-under-par, a whole 14 strokes behind Stenson and 11 strokes behind Mickelson. The Kentuckian enjoyed an exceptionally steady week, shooting a pair of 70s on Thursday and Friday and twin 69s on the weekend. He ended up with a career-best major finish, topping his tie for fourth at the Masters this past April.

Steve Stricker finished in solo fourth, good for his best major performance since 1998. Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and Tyrrell Hatton tied for fifth at four-under, while Andrew Johnston was one stroke behind in solo eighth. Dustin Johnson, Soren Kjeldsen and Bill Haas finished at two-under to round out the top 10.

For them, it was a good week, but for Henrik Stenson, it was historic. In a career full of memorable wins, this will likely go down as the steely Swede’s finest hour.

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