Worth Waiting For

The golfers walked to the 18th tee with Stenson up two, needing only to hold off Mickelson with a conservative hole. With the kind of good fortune that had characterised his entire round, Stenson’s tee shot stopped just short of a fairway bunker that could have derailed his entire round.

Needing only a par, Stenson birdied, his putt hanging on the edge momentarily before dropping to a huge roar from the appreciative galleries.

Further down the leaderboard, everyone else was jockeying for third place and a ranking that will look a whole lot better on a career retrospective than it does now. Rory McIlroy pulled his usual trick of performing magnificently with no major stakes on the line, carding a four-under round that was one of the day’s best outside the leaders. Steve Stricker, 49 and still without a major, performed well enough at what he now calls his part-time job to earn a few more major exemptions. Sergio Garcia, the finest performer in majors without a victory, also notched a top-five finish, while newcomer Andrew “Beef” Johnston held up well under major championship pressure to finish in the top 10.

For Mickelson, the day ended yet again in major heartbreak, with yet another second-place finish, his 11th overall in majors, second all-time to Jack Nicklaus’ 19. But for Stenson, Sunday was a validation of a career well played, a bravura performance that will go down as one of the finest in the century-plus history of The Open.