OPEN: Last men standing in Royal rumble

BY BRENDAN JAMES at ROYAL TROON

In the red corner stands Phil Mickelson – a wily, 46-year-old veteran of 95 major championship starts with five wins, who has seemingly stumbled upon the fountain of youth and is playing like he was at the height of his powers a dozen years ago. Victory will see him become the oldest Open Champion since Old Tom Morris in 1867 and he would join Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino as a six-time major winner.

Waiting in the blue corner is Henrik Stenson – the enigmatic 40-year-old Swede, who is one of the game’s best players never to have won a major and has finished in the top-4 seven times since 2008. He carries the hopes of Sweden on his shoulders to become their first men’s major champion.

Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson will go head-to-head in a battle for the Claret Jug in the final round.
PHOTO: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images.

The pair has separated themselves from the peloton at the 145^th Open Championship and will trade punch shots in a head-to-head battle over the final 18 holes at Royal Troon. And given the high quality shot-making of their third round exchange where the lead bounced between the duo several times, it promises to be an intriguing clash for the coveted Claret Jug.

Having started the third round at nine under, one behind Mickelson, Stenson quickly made his intentions clear at the 1^st hole when he smashed his 3-wood to within 50 yards of the green, pitched onto the front edge and converted the birdie from 15 feet.

The final pairing both birdied the 3^rd hole to move five shots clear of their nearest rivals. Stenson added another birdie at the par-5 4^th to move one ahead of ‘Lefty’ but they were tied again at 11 under after the 6^th hole when the Swede played two loose approach shots that left him in deep rough short of the green. The best Stenson could have expected from the horrible lie was a bogey.

Stenson added another bogey at the Postage Stamp 8^th hole to fall one behind his playing partner, who narrowly missed moving two shots clear with a birdie.

Mickelson, as he has been through the poorer conditions of Friday and Saturday, was a model of consistency and when he did venture off line he was able to conjure up a magical recovery.

On the brutal par-4 12^th hole, Mickelson mis-hit his 2-iron well left and he caught a massive break when it appeared that his ball bounced off the gorse and dropped straight down. From there, he fashioned a punch shot up the fairway, hit a wedge onto the green and holed the putt for an improbable par to maintain his one shot advantage. Having dodged that bullet, Mickelson rolled in a 25-footer for birdie on 13 to create a two-shot buffer but Stenson was not going down without a fight.

Mickelson celebrates holing his long birdie putt on the 13th green.
PHOTO: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images.

The Swede drew alongside Mickelson again when he converted a superb tee shot into a birdie and watched as ‘Lefty’ failed to save his par from close range so they were again tied at 11 under.

They remained tied until Mickelson birdied the 16^th to move to 12 under but his one shot lead was short lived as he bogied the second of back nine par-3s, the 17^th. The American hit his 4-iron tee shot way left, while Stenson covered the 219-yards with pinpoint accuracy. Mickelson was unable to get up and down from the rough and Stenson holed his 20-footer for birdie to again move back into the lead by one stroke.

LEADERBOARD

Mickelson almost bungled the final hole when his miscued approach found a pot bunker left of the green. He turned and fired some abuse at a photographer for taking photos at the top of his backswing and putting him off his shot. With Stenson safely on the putting surface, the pressure was on Mickelson to invoke another escape from a difficult situation and he did so with aplomb, splashing his ball out of the sand to within tap-in distance of the cup.

Mickelson and Stenson had traded blows for nearly five hours around Royal Troon and the huge crowd, who had been waiting in the cold wind and rain, could not have been more appreciative.

Stenson, a leader by one, has played Troon’s back nine better than any player in the field over three days. His eight birdies and two bogies over the most testing nine holes of the course have contributed heavily to his rounds of 68-65-68.

Mickelson admits he didn’t have his ‘A’ game but was able to get the most out of his round and stick with Stenson.

Stenson plays a brilliant bunker shot on the 16th to keep his good round going.
PHOTO: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images.

“I was off today,” he said. “I didn't have my best stuff. My rhythm was a little quick from the top as we started downwind. I was a little bit jumpy and my rhythm wasn't very good. I found a way to kind of settle in and hit some shots and then find ways to make pars on the times that I hit some poor shots.

“Today could have been a day that got away from me, instead I shot under par and kept myself right in it heading into tomorrow's final round, so I'm proud of that.

“Andrew Getson (his Australian-born coach) and I have some work to do to get my swing back to where it was the first couple days, and it shouldn't be too far off. I'd love to play tomorrow's final round the way I did the first two and give myself a shot.”

Mickelson drew on all his experience in major championships to avoid letting the chance to win a sixth major slip away.

“The game of golf it just comes and goes,” he said. “Most important thing is to find a way to get the ball in the hole, and that's what I did. I found a way to get the ball in the hole, make pars, and that's all that I really care about.

“Some days it's easy and it looks pretty like the first couple. Some days it's hard and it looks terrible, like it did today. But either way I’ve shot three rounds under par.

Mickelson conjures up another par save, this time from the greenside bunker on the 18th.
PHOTO: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images.

“Tomorrow I know it's not far off because I was hitting it so good. I've been hitting it so good for so long, that I just think one day is an anomaly and hopefully I'll get dialled back in tomorrow.”

Stenson, apart from wanting to win his first major, would be exacting a little revenge on Mickelson, who grabbed the title in front of him at Muirfield in 2013.

“There's always revenge,” said a smiling Stenson.

“Yeah, I was one of the guys who was up there at Muirfield and Phil won it very deservingly and made a great finish; four birdies on the last six holes, I believe.

“It would be great to hand one back to him tomorrow, absolutely. But as we know it's going to take some good golfing to do that, but I'm certainly willing to give it a try.”

VIDEO: Third round highlights

Perhaps most telling is that Stenson is looking forward to the Ryder Cup-style match up with Mickelson and, perhaps, hoisting the Claret Jug.

“(To be Open Champion) is the one thing I'm looking for,” he said. “It would be the icing on the cake.

“But at the same time I've worked hard, I've put myself in a great spot. But still it's whatever you want to throw the odds, but if I give myself a 50-50, it might happen, it might not happen.

“The sun will come up on Monday anyway, hopefully … maybe not in Scotland, but in other parts of the world (laughing). And I will be back at the PGA to try.

“I know I've got the game to win one of these championships or a few, hopefully by the end of my career, and I will just try my hardest.

“And it would mean that just little bit extra to win it in Scotland, aye (laughing).”

English cult-hero Andrew Johnston acknowledges the crowd after his round of 70.
PHOTO: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images.

Mickelson is five shots clear of third placed Bill Haas (69) with crowd-favourite Andrew Johnston (70) a further shot back at five under. Big-hitting American J.B Holmes (69) is outright fifth at four under, one stroke clear of a trio at three under – Dane Soren Kjeldsen (75) and Americans Tony Finau (72) and Steve Stricker (68).

Of course, these pursuers are not yet out of the contest. One only has to think back to Paul Lawrie’s victory at Carnoustie in 1999 when he came from 10 shots back on the final day to win the Claret Jug in a play-off.

But it is difficult to imagine the knock out punch in this title fight is going to come from beyond the last pairing on Sunday afternoon.