He hits the ball too high. He’s too wild from the tee. He prefers to pitch through the air rather than along the ground. His game is too erratic.

The reasons why Phil Mickelson couldn’t win an Open Championship always seemed to far outweigh the reasons why he might. Such a dominant force for two decades in America, Mickelson didn’t ever appear to have the game to compete on the great links on the opposite side of the Atlantic. After all, it took him a dozen Open starts before he registered a top-ten finish. Yet the links education of Philip Alfred Mickelson reached graduation day at Muirfield during the final round of the 142nd Open Championship.

Phil Mickelson birdies the 72nd hole to secure an historic victory. PHOTO: MATTHEW HARRIS/TGPL

Starting five strokes behind leader Lee Westwood, Mickelson carded a closing 66 for the round of the day and equal-low round of the championship to take this year’s Open by three strokes from Henrik Stenson. Mickelson broke free from a crowded and ever-changing leading pack with four birdies over the closing six holes in a performance that left even him bewildered.

“This is such an accomplishment for me,” he said. “I never knew if I’d be able to develop the game and the shots to play links golf effectively. To play what is arguably the best round of my career, to putt the way I putted, to shoot the round of my life, it just feels amazing to win the Claret Jug.”

Mickelson makes no mistake as he fires his approach into the final green. PHOTO: MATTHEW HARRIS/TGPL

The last day dawned with just a quartet of golfers at par or better, each with a compelling storyline. Leader Westwood was looking to capture that elusive first major; chief pursuer Tiger Woods stood poised to win from behind for the first time at a major and end a five-year victory drought; Hunter Mahan was seeking to atone for his demise over the closing holes at the US Open a month earlier and Adam Scott aimed for Open redemption a year after letting the 141st championship slip through his fingers. Four more players stood at one over while Mickelson sat at two-over-par alongside Italy’s Francesco Molinari.

The only early mover from the chasing pack on a blustery Sunday was Ian Poulter. Beginning the last round at five-over-par and eight shots behind his countryman, the flamboyant Englishman tore through the middle holes at Muirfield. An eagle on the par-5 9th hole began a run of five consecutive threes that brought him within two strokes of the lead. Poulter’s electric 67 set the clubhouse mark at one over and gave the leaders a number to look at during the last nine holes.

For the leading groups, the round played out in three distinct six-hole stanzas. The first half-dozen holes saw Westwood maintain his lead as Mahan dropped shots and Woods and Scott started slowly. Only Stenson moved into the frame with two early birdies.

Lee Westwood plays from a plugged lie in a bunker on the 7th hole. PHOTO: MATTHEW HARRIS/TGPL

The plot changed course dramatically at the par-3 7th. Twenty years after an Australian last hoisted the most coveted piece of silverware in golf, it appeared through the middle stretch of holes that the Claret Jug might be joining the Green Jacket Down Under. Scott started a charge when he birdied the 7th with a pure 20-foot putt right before Westwood failed to escape from a semi-plugged lie in the front bunker of the same hole, working hard to drop only one shot. Scott then made a long birdie putt across the 8th green to return to even-par, just two strokes behind. The birdie run continued when Scott comfortably reached the downwind par-5 9th with a pair of irons and two-putted just as Westwood bogeyed the 8th from the cross bunker short of the green to give the Masters champion a share of the lead at one-under.

The trio of birdies proved to be the spark Scott needed. He struck a pinpoint wedge shot at the 11th that almost hit the flag. The ensuing birdie gave him the outright lead on Sunday at the Open for the second consecutive year. Unfortunately, for the second consecutive year Scott made four straight bogeys, this time from the 13th to 16th holes, the pain soothed only slightly when another long birdie putt dropped on the final green to see him share third place with Poulter and Westwood.

“Had I played a little more solid in the middle of the back nine I could have had a chance coming in,” Scott said. “You just can’t make too many errors and I made a couple on the green on 14 and 15. Bad ones. I’m happy with my week, other than I didn’t win. But I lived up to my expectations of putting myself in contention with a chance. It will just have to go down in the experience book as something to build on again.”

Mickelson, fresh off finally conquering a links course a week earlier at the Scottish Open, lingered on the fringe of contention all championship but always seemed a few strokes too far away to be a serious threat. That changed early on the final nine as he outplayed all the challengers over the closing six holes. Despite two birdies on the front nine, he was still one-over standing on the 13th tee and facing one of the more fearsome finishing stretches in golf. A pure 5-iron there led to a birdie that was backed up when a 20-foot birdie putt dropped on the next green.

Just as those closest to him began slipping back, Mickelson moved up a gear. He saved key pars at the 15th and 16th before striking two perfect woods through the headwind and onto the front of the par-5 17th green. A two-putt birdie there effectively sealed the title.

“Those two 3-woods were the two best shots of the week, to get it on that green,” Mickelson said. “As I was walking up to the green, that was when I realised that this is very much my championship in my control. And I was getting a little emotional. I had to take a second to slow down my walk and try to regain composure.”

Adam Scott rues another missed putt midway through the back nine. PHOTO: MATTHEW HARRIS/TGPL

With the outcome no longer in dispute, the remaining half-hour of play became anticlimactic as the challengers rued being breezed past by a swashbuckling Mickelson. Stenson is always a factor on courses where he can get away with not hitting drivers, and he 3-wooded Muirfield into submission. The ice-cool Swede co-led the championship with Scott and Westwood midway through Sunday’s play, eventually claiming the runner-up spot as the challenger who leaked the fewest strokes over the closing stretch.

Mickelson revelled in the 18th-hole theatre. His only previous victory this year came in Arizona on the back of an opening round of 60. He looked to finally have the US Open in his grasp at Merion only to be outlasted by Justin Rose in another fluctuating final round. Yet he came to Scotland on a mission: to win both Opens. He beat South African Branden Grace to claim the Scottish Open, winning on the first play-off hole after he’d fought his natural instincts and laid up on the 72nd hole yet still bogeyed to necessitate the overtime. Seven days later at Muirfield, Mickelson closed with perfection. The 18th fairway safely found, his iron shot flirted with the bunker left of the green before settling 12 feet behind the cup. The birdie putt wasn’t needed but when it dropped, it gave Mickelson the equal-best round of the championship and punctuated a remarkable fortnight in Scotland.

WHAT THEY SAID:

Phil Mickelson

“This is just an amazing feeling winning this great championship. And to play probably the best round of my career and hit some of the best shots that I've ever hit. Certainly putt better than I've ever putted. You know, I was getting ready for today and I just thought I need to bring my "A" game today. I just need to bring it. I need to show up and play some of my best golf. And I did. I played some of the best golf of my career.

“It feels amazing to have this championship. And then to make it even more special, to have Amy, Amanda, Sophia, Evan here; to share this with Bones; to have Steve Loy who's been with me back from my college days all the way through; to have Butch Harmon here to share this moment, it really is special. It's a day that I'll always cherish, always remember.”

Henrik Stenson

“I've done some great improvements this season, getting back into form. I know it might sound silly and I don't know, a bit stupid to say that I didn't feel like I'm that overly confident with some parts of my game. But I still managed to keep it together.

“I've played this golf course very good, I think. Even though I made a few mistakes, I haven't made some big mistakes that kind of put me out of the tournament. And mentally I've been in a good place all week.”

Lee Westwood

“I didn't play badly, but I didn't play great. It's a tough golf course, and you've got to have your "A" game. I missed a few shots out there. I hit the wrong club at 7 I thought, in hindsight. I tried to hit a 9-iron; it was never going to get there. Plugged in the front trap. And plugged it in the trap at 8 going for a flier. And a poor tee shot off 9 and hit my second shot on 9. Got lucky with a lie on the second shot down the right and that plugged in the trap, as well. So it was three plugged lies on three holes. And you'd like to go par, par, bogey; I went bogey, bogey par.

“Going from 3-under back to 1-under. Just halted my momentum a bit. Phil obviously played well. He shot the round of the day, 5-under par, I think. And birdied four out of six. That's a pretty special finishing in a Major championship.”

Adam Scott

“I let a great chance slip, I felt, during the middle of the round and that's disappointing. I'm happy I put myself in chance to -- my game is in great shape, that's the good thing to take from it. But I didn't get to the number that Phil finished on, but I was right there. Had I played a little more solid in the middle of that back nine, I could have had a chance coming in.

“I'm happy with my week, other than I didn't win. But I lived up to my expectations of putting myself in contention with a chance. And it will just have to go down in the experience book and something to build on again.”

Tiger Woods said he played well but was frustrated all week by the speed of the greens. PHOTO: MATTHEW HARRIS/TGPL

Tiger Woods

“I had a hard time adjusting to the speeds. They were much slower today, much softer. I don't think I got too many putts to the hole today. I really had a hard time and left myself a couple of long lag putts early on when it was really blowing, and left them way short and didn't make those putts.

“I didn't really play that poorly. I hit a couple of bad shots at 10, 11, that was about it and at 3. But other than that I really hit the ball well today. I was just – I just couldn't ever get the pace of these things.

“I'm very pleased with the way I'm playing, there's no doubt. I'm right there and I hit a ton of good shots this week, and the only thing that I would look back on this week is I just never got the speed after the first day, because it progressively got slower. I thought today they would be faster, given it's Sunday, and I thought they would let it go, but they actually got it even softer. Adam and I were talking about that today, we were surprised at a couple of the balls that were checking up, even at 18. 7-irons downwind and they didn't bounce up there.”

THE OPEN LEADERBOARD

Muirfield Golf Club, Gullane, Scotland

6,576 METRES, PAR-71

£5,250,000, JULY 18-21

1. Phil Mickelson (US)   69-74-72-66—281           £945,000

2. Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70-70-74-70—284           545,000

T3. Ian Poulter (Eng)      72-71-75-67—285           281,000

T3. Adam Scott (Qld)    71-72-70-72—285           281,000

T3. Lee Westwood (Eng)            72-68-70-75—285           281,000

ALSO:

T32. Jason Day (Qld)    73-71-72-77—293           £26,000

T44. Geoff Ogilvy (Vic) 75-75-72-72—294           16,200

T54. Marcus Fraser (Vic)           73-74-76-72—295           13,900

T79. Peter Senior (Qld) 74-76-73-77—300           11,500

MISSED CUT (150):

Marc Leishman (Vic) 76-75—151; Stephen Dartnall (WA) 80-72—152; John Senden (Qld) 77-76—153; Steven Jeffress (Qld) 76-79—155; John Wade (Vic) 74-81—155; Brett Rumford (WA) 79-77—156; Brendan Jones (ACT) 78-78—156.

* You can read our full review of the 142nd Open Championship in the August issue of Golf Australia on sale on August 1