Mickelson wins British Open with late charge
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, July 22, 2013
After huffing and puffing at the British Open so often in the past, Phil Mickelson finally blew the house down by romping to a three-shot victory over Swede Henrik Stenson in golf's oldest major yesterday.
The American left-hander took advantage of a jittery last round from overnight leader Lee Westwood by firing a five-under-par 66 for a three-under tally of 281 on a cool and breezy day on the east coast of Scotland.
Mickelson was the beneficiary of a fortunate bounce with his approach shot at the last and after rolling in a 10-foot birdie putt he raised both arms in the air before hugging Jim 'Bones' Mackay as his long-serving caddie wiped away some tears.
Muirfield once again lived up to its reputation for providing great champions as the popular Californian picked up the fifth major title of his career.
It was Mickelson's 20th appearance at the British Open and only the third time he had finished in the top 10.
"This is such an accomplishment for me," the 43-year-old said. "I just never knew I could develop the game that I needed to play links golf effectively.
"To play arguably the best round of my career and putt better than I've ever putted before feels amazing."
Stenson closed with a 70, ending up one stroke ahead of Westwood (75), Australian Adam Scott (72) and a fired-up Ian Poulter (67) who launched a spectacular last-day assault with a dynamic eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie burst from the ninth. World No. 1 Tiger Woods was strangely out of sorts and never threatened to challenge for the coveted Claret Jug.
Fourteen-time major winner Woods, bidding to end a five-year wait for a win in one of golf's big four events, could be heard muttering darkly to himself throughout the round as he slid to a 74 to take a share of sixth place on 286.
Mickelson, who also won the Scottish Open last week, said yesterday's win made up for the disappointment of losing out on the US Open in June. "The range of emotions are as far apart as possible following the loss at Merion," he added. "To win here feels amazing but you have to be resilient in this game, you have to accept the losses as well as you accept the victories."
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