Phil Mickelson may be disappointed that he wasn’t able to win The Open Championship, but he is still happy with his game.
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He then produced a stunning putt for another birdie at 15 and at the long 16th Mickelson saw an eagle putt stop dead on the edge of the hole.
The conditions will make it hard for, say, Bill Haas – at minus-6, five shots back of Mickelson – to mount a final-day charge up the leader board.
Americans JB Holmes and Steve Stricker finished third and fourth, but they were distant.
Bill Haas, a seven-time victor on the PGA Tour who is rarely heard from at majors, was solid with 69 and alone in third at 6 under. He broke par for the third straight day with 70.
He gave Sweden a long-awaited major in men’s golf, 19 years after Jesper Parnevik lost a 54-hole lead at Royal Troon. “I think that’s probably why it’s disappointing in that I don’t have a point where I can look back and say, I should have done that or had I only done this”, Mickelson admitted. “As we know it’s going to take some good golfing to do that, but I’m certainly willing to give it a try”.
The 46-year-old Mickelson is shooting for his sixth major title.
This was heavyweight material, reminiscent of the “Duel in the Sun” just down the Ayrshire coastline at Turnberry in 1977, when Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus battled right down to the final hole, and no one else was closer than 10 shots. “It could have been a day that got away from me, but I’m pleased I found a way to shoot under par and kept myself in it”.
Mickelson almost punched right back on the 16th with an eagle – but his putt just darted outside the left lip at the last moments. Runner-up Mickelson shot a six-under-par 65 with not a single bogey and yet came up short to an opponent who was an incredible eight under on the day. And I don’t believe 17 was throwing out too many birdies this afternoon. Mickelson’s putt turned about six inches in the last two feet and sidestepped the front lip. Stenson held a one-shot lead after nine.
With the drama building as each hole passed, Stenson broke away on the 14th and 15th holes, continuing one of the most unbelievable putting displays in a long time in a major championship.
Johnson moved to 5-under and was in sight of Stenson and Mickelson when he took a triple-bogey 7 on No. 11 that ran alongside a railway line. He dropped another shot at No. 15 after letting a 3-iron from the fairway slip right, and things came to a head, so to speak, on the next hole.
Mickelson set the tone by birdieing the first hole to reclaim the lead as his playing partner made bogey.
A frustrated Rory McIlroy snapped his three wood after hurling it to the ground as he struggled to make inroads on the leaders at Royal Troon in the third round of The Open.
The 2014 champion had a two-over 73 to fall to even-par and his frustration was summed up when he destroyed his 3-wood after a poor approach shot at the 16th.
Stenson began the day with a one-stroke lead. He is 1-over and tied for 25th.
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Jordan Spieth, after making the cut on the number, got off to a hot start Saturday morning with four birdies in the first seven holes. He limped home with a 72 and is 5-over for the tournament.
