Sparkling Swede just misses out on Open history
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Super Swede Henrik Stenson admitted he was caught napping by Open champion Phil Mickelson’s late birdie surge.
“That was a bit sneaky of Phil,” joked Stenson who had to settle for second spot on level par, three shots adrift of the American after carding a gritty final round 70.
He added: “I looked up at the scoreboard on 17 and suddenly realised I was three shots behind and thought that having a hole-in-one at the last was pushing it a bit!”
Nevertheless Stenson, runner-up to Mickelson in the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart the previous week and aiming to become the first-ever Scandinavian Open champion, can be proud of his efforts this week.
And the 37-years-old reckons there is more to come from him as he believes he’s still not at his best despite sparkling successive showings in Scotland.
“I’m not overly confident with some parts of my game, but I still managed to keep it together while mentally I’m in a good place. But I still feel I can ‘up’ it a little bit and hopefully close the deal in the near future.
“I’ve learnt a lot this week and hopefully this will stand me in good stead for the upcoming US PGA Championship and next year’s Open. But all credit to Phil – he’s a world-class player and has been for many years. He’s a very worthy champion.”
