Rozner: Stenson finally takes major step forward

Just a month ago, the list of the best players never to win a major championship included the likes of Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson, two players who surrounded so many titles but could never finish on Sunday.

The 32-year-old Johnson famously exorcised that demon at Oakmont in the U.S. Open on Father's Day, overcoming an extraordinary field, a brutal test of golf and the USGA all at the same time.

It was the story of the year in golf - until Sunday.

That now belongs to the 40-year-old Stenson, who departed that list of the best never to do it and left it to the likes of Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie.

Before Sunday, Stenson owned 10 top 10s in a major, eight top 5s, four third places and a runner up in the Open Championship to Phil Mickelson in 2013.

At his age, it was absolutely fair to wonder if Stenson possessed the mettle to survive a Sunday in the rain and wind at Troon, where Americans had won the last six Opens and where Stenson would have to stare down Mickelson.

But he did more than that. Stenson did much more than that.

He opened with a 3-putt bogey while Mickelson had a kick-in birdie for a 2-shot swing and a 1-shot lead for Mickelson, a five-time major winner who went through his own struggles in majors before winning his first - the 2004 Masters - at age 33 after eight top 3s.

Stenson then birdied a remarkable six of the next nine holes and when he bogeyed No. 11 and Mickelson made par, the two were tied again at 16-under par.

It was a spectacular display of match-play golf in the final round of a major championship under very difficult conditions, the two veterans going toe-to-toe, answering brilliant shot with brilliant shot, no punch hard enough to make the other go away.

It was reminiscent of "The Duel in the Sun," the 1977 Open at Turnberry where Tom Watson fired a final-round 65 to defeat Jack Nicklaus by a shot. The two men posted identical scores the first three days, Watson besting Nicklaus by a single stroke on Sunday.

Both men birdied the 18th hole, pushing one another to the very end and separating themselves from the field. Nicklaus finished 10 shots ahead of third-place finisher Hubert Green.

Stenson and Mickelson did much the same this weekend - "The Grind in the Gloom," as the BBC put it - with Stenson making bird on four of the last five holes under darkened skies to finish 3 shots clear, even with Mickelson shooting the best final round of his career at a major.

"A 65 in the final round of a major," Mickelson said, "is usually good enough to win."

At Troon, Mickelson shot his two best career scores in 362 career rounds at majors and finished second, 11 shots ahead of J.B. Holmes in third, but he could not match Stenson, who tied Johnny Miller's record of 63 in a major championship final round, the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Stenson finished at 264, the lowest 72-hole score ever in a major championship. He tied Jason Day's record for lowest under par (20) set last year in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, and set the Open record at 20-under, passing Tiger Woods' record of 19-under par in 2000 at St. Andrews.

"I felt like this was going to be my turn," Stenson said. "It's not something you want to run around and shout, but I felt like this was going to be my turn."

Stenson became a professional in 1999 and by 2006 he had reached the top 20 of the World Golf Rankings. After winning the Players Championship in 2009, he reached No. 4 in the world.

Later in 2009, Stenson learned he had lost much of his earnings in a Ponzi scheme. His game suffered and so did his health. In 2011, he made just 14 of 25 cuts worldwide. By early 2012, Stenson had fallen to 230th in the world.

Some wondered if Stenson would ever reappear as a force in professional golf. But he fought back with a big year in 2013 and has threatened in majors ever since.

"I managed to put my game together with a lot of hard work and a lot of help from my team and support from my family and friends," said Stenson, the first male Swede to win a major. "It's a dream come true. To sit here and hold this trophy is really amazing."

While known as one of the best ball strikers ever, Stenson could never close on Sunday in a major.

Now he has done precisely that with one of the greatest final rounds ever played against a Hall of Famer in Mickelson who also had a brilliant Sunday in Scotland.

"I always thought he would come through with a win," Mickelson said. "I'm sorry that it came at my expense."

Maybe it could have happened to a better or more deserving guy than Henrik Stenson, but on one of the most memorable days in major championship history, it's hard to think of even one.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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