By Gary Lemke
The third Major of the year was won by Sweden’s Henrik Stenson. Here’s a quick catch-up glance at how things unfolded at Royal Troon.
FIRST ROUND
THE LEADER
Phil Mickelson teed off on the first hole as a 40-1 outsider in the betting. But, less than five hours later he had signed for a 63 and the bookies trimmed him to the 4-1 favourite. His round could, and perhaps should, have been even better when his putt on the 18th lipped out and he had a tap-in from 5cm, which was how far the American was from being the first man to ever shoot a round of 62 in a Major championship. ‘Well, one of the biggest challenges is when you shoot a round like this, you start expectations running through your head and so forth, and that’s the one thing that I’ll have to try to suppress and hold off,’ Mickelson said. ‘We’ll have three more rounds.’
HOT, THEN COLD
Haydn Porteous, the 22-year-old South African, was making everyone sit up and take notice. He’d started quietly, opening his tournament with three straight pars before making an eagle on the par-five 4th hole. Another par at the 5th hole was followed by another eagle at the par-five 6th to take him to four under. Birdies at the 7th and 8th holes suddenly saw his name at the top of the leaderboard, six under after eight holes and he turned in just 30 strokes. However, his second nine required 40 blows as he signed for a one-under 70. It was a round that included only seven pars but was filled with excitement and drama.
LEADING SOUTH AFRICAN
Richard Sterne had once touched a high of 29th in the World Golf Ranking, but he came to Royal Troon as No 328 after a topsy-turvy past few years, where he even ended 2011 at 1 031st. However, loops of 33 and 35 saw him well placed after the opening 18 holes in red at two-under.
The SA challenge: 68 Sterne. 69 Zander Lombard. 70 Porteous, Branden Grace. 71 Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen. 72 Charl Schwartzel. 73 Brandon Stone. 75 George Coetzee
HOLE-IN-ONE
Standing on the 14th tee, Louis Oosthuizen was two over for his round. But, a chat with his caddie and a change of club from 5-iron to 6-iron saw the ball fly towards the pin, bounce and roll in. It was a 10 000-1 opportunity for Compleat Golfer’s playing editor after he had also made an ace at The Masters earlier this year. It was his fifth hole-in-one of his career.
SECOND ROUND
THE LEADER
Mickelson stuck to his game plan, hitting almost exclusively irons off the tee and avoiding trouble. That strategy allowed him to hang on to the lead, but his three-shot cushion had shrunk to one. Mickelson’s 69, added to his opening 63, left him on 10 under.
ROUND OF THE DAY
The big Swede Henrick Stenson put a second-round 65 to add to his opening 68 to be nine under after the first 36 holes. He had seven birdies and one dropped shot – on the ninth. South Africa’s Charl Schwarzel was also on fire, producing a 66 that left him on four under at halfway.
LEADING SOUTH AFRICAN
Thanks to that 66, Schwartzel charged through the field to leave himself well placed only six shots off the leader, Mickelson, and paired with the American Bill Haas on the Saturday.
The SA challenge: 138 Schwartzel (72, 66). 142 Sterne (68, 74). 144 Grace (70, 74). 145 Lombard (69, 76). 146 Porteous (70, 76). Missed the cut: 147 Coetzee (75, 72); Els (71, 76). 151 Stone (73, 78). 151 Oosthuizen (71, 83).
BIG-NAME CASUALTIES
The cut was set at four over and among those to miss out were the 2004 winner at Royal Troon, Todd Hamilton (+6), Irishman Shane Lowry (+7), Japan’s Hideki Matsayuma (+8) and former Open champions Els and Oosthuizen.
THIRD ROUND
THE LEADER
A superb 68 from Stenson saw him sign off after 54 holes with a one-shot advantage on 12 under ahead of Mickelson, after the American bogeyed two of the last five holes, including missing from ‘gimme’ range on the 17th. By the end of the day these two had pulled well clear of third-placed Haas, whose 69 left him on 207, five behind Mickelson and six behind Stenson.
LEADING SOUTH AFRICAN
Schwartzel chose a bad day to sign for a 73, losing two shots late in the round that saw him slip to one under for the championship, some 11 shots off Stenson and out of contention for a first Claret Jug. Porteous earlier had teed off alone and played in a bubble as he produced a find 68, joint round of the day. It could have been even better for Porteous because he had a double-bogey six at the final hole and so easily might have signed for a round’s best 66.
The SA challenge: 211 Schwartzel (72, 66, 73). 214 Porteous (70, 76, 68). 218 Sterne (68, 74, 76). 219 Lombard (69, 76, 74). 220 Grace (70, 74, 76).
FINAL ROUND
THE CHAMPION
Five birdies on the first nine, five more on the second nine, including four on the final five holes, handed Stenson the Claret Jug, as he became the first male Swede to win a Major championship. He closed with a final round 63 to win by three shots from Mickelson, who himself closed with a 65. It was one of the greatest duels of final round Major golf seen, as Stenson and Mickelson traded blows on what was a ‘mild’ day at Royal Troon. Third-placed JB Holmes was 14 shots behind Stenson and 11 adrift of Mickelson.
LEADING SOUTH AFRICAN
Schwartzel closed with a second successive 73 for a two-over 284, while Porteous handed in a 72 for a 286. It was a tournament from which the youngster will take plenty of positives. Sterne also held things together with a one-over round on the Sunday, while Lombard posted a 76 and Grace completed a disappointing week with a 77.
The SA challenge (winner 264): T18th 284 Schwartzel (72, 66, 73, 73). T30th 286 Porteous (70, 76, 68, 72). T46th 290 Sterne (68, 74, 76, 72). T66th 295 Lombard (69, 76, 74, 76). T72nd 297 Grace (70, 74, 76, 77).
