The Open Championship 2016 - Day 4 Report

Post by Sports Writer Josh Carr

It was a lefty against a righty, Europe against the USA and when push came to shove, Henrik Stenson became the first Swede to win a major championship when he came out on top in an epic battle against Phil Mickelson to become Open Champion.

The European beat Tiger Woods’ four round record total at an Open Championship of -19 (2000) after carding an eight under par 63 to become the champion golfer of the year and finish the four rounds at -20.

In fact it was very much a record breaking week for “the ice man” as the Swede tied the lowest major round with his round of 63; broke the major scoring record with his four round total of 264 and as mentioned earlier, now holds the Open scoring record at -20.

The battle was reminiscent of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson’s “Duel in the Sun” at Turnberry in the 1977 Open Championship and it could be argued that this duel was even more exciting. The duo matched each other pretty much shot for shot on the front nine and when Stenson three putted the 11^th hole, it looked like the tournament was playing into Phil’s hands. However, Stenson bounced back to birdie 14, 15, 16 and 18 and to run out winner by three shots.

It’s hard not to feel sorry for Mickelson after he carded a bogey free, six under par round to finish three behind the Swede. In fact, the lefty only had four bogies all week. The pair were an impressive 12 under par between them and put on one incredible show for the thousands that came out on the Royal Troon links to watch, as well as those viewing at home.

The next nearest competitor was America’s JB Holmes who finished an astounding 11 shots behind his fellow countryman in second place and a further 3 behind Stenson. Fellow American Steve Stricker was a place further back at -5.

Three European’s made up the fifth position. Rory McIlroy topped the trio after a four under par round of 67 to move up the leaderboard. Hot prospect Tyrrel Hatton shot an impressive 68 and the “top 10 king” at Majors, Sergio Garcia, shot two under par to also finish at -4.

One of the other talking points of the day was Andrew Johnston, or to you and I, “Beef”. The Englishman finished in solo 8^th position and despite shooting two over par, he has firmly become a fan favourite with his happy-go-lucky attitude. All day you could here chants of “Beef, Beef, Beef” echoing round the course and when he set off with three birdies in the first four, some were even thinking he could catch the leading duo.

But the day belonged to Stenson, who produced some moments of magic to see off Mickelson, despite starting with a bogey. The 145^th Open Championship will be one that lives on long in the memory as one of the greatest final day battles between two of the game’s greatest players.

For a full final day Open Championship wrap up see here.