Ranking the best of each major championship in the 2010s

Best of the Open Championship: Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson duel it out at Royal Troon, 2016

The Open Championship is always something special. The idea of golf being on first thing in the morning (or the last thing before I go to sleep) is fun anyway, but there’s a different feel to the Open, as you can feel the history pouring out of every hole. The players certainly know that as it’s happening, and it can bring out the best in them with the Claret Jug on the line.

That was the case at Royal Troon in 2016, as two veterans went shot-for-shot down the stretch, separating themselves from the rest of the field but not from each other. It was reminiscent of 1977’s classic “Duel in the Sun” between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry, and that alone should tell you everything you need to know.

In ’77, Nicklaus and Watson entered that final round tied, four shots clear of the pack. In ’16, Phil and Stenson came in with a shot between them, but Bill Haas was another five behind in third place. Barring something far more stunning, this was pure, heads-up golf at its finest. And did it ever deliver.

How great was it? Mickelson’s card was clean, with four birdies and an eagle to post six-under 65 for the day. And he still lost by three to Stenson. The Swede, 40 at the time, made two bogeys on the day. The first, at No. 1, gave Mickelson the lead with his opening birdie. The second, on the par-4 11th, tied the pair at -16 for the championship. But Stenson simply found another gear, with four birdies in his final five holes to put Lefty away for good.

Frankly, this was the best major of the decade – and perhaps more – right up until the moment Tiger won the Masters in 2019. It’s the type of golf that even casual fans take notice of, and it’s everything you would want in a major championship showdown.

Honorable Mentions

The ’16 Open was so good that it’s hard to put much in its category, but I’ll give it a shot here. Ernie Els winning his fourth major a decade after his third (also at the Open) was a fun moment at Royal Lytham, even if most of the other competitors simply failed to bring it at all on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy holding off a white-hot Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia in 2014 came close, but it lost a bit to me because it felt like Rory was playing defense. Hey, that’s what you do with a six-shot lead through 54 – you’ve earned it.

Phil had a pair of great Opens in the 2010’s, with his 2013 triumph at Muirfield a massive surprise, perhaps even to himself. It was the major he never thought he’d win, but he has a Claret Jug, even as the U.S. Open title continues to elude him.

And I don’t know if I’m giving it more credit for essentially a single shotmaking moment than I should be, but nobody who saw it will ever forget Jordan Spieth’s heroic comeback from the driving range in 2017 at Royal Birkdale. The record books will call it a wire-to-wire win, but that bogey on 13 remains one of the great scores you’ll ever see in golf. The fact that he followed that by going birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie just shows you how great Spieth was at his peak…and the kind of form we’re all missing from him today.