Henrik Stenson wins 2016 Open Championship
Henrik Stenson (-20) survived a furious 18-hole push in the final round of the 2016 Open Championship to win his first major tournament and the 18th win of his pro career.
After shooting an unbelievable round of 63 (-8) in the final round of the 2016 Open Championship, Henrik Stenson won his first major tournament of his career.
Stenson held off a furious push from 46-year-old Phil Mickelson, who shot a superb round of -6 (65) to stay in contention, but Stenson and his putter were just too much for Mickelson down the stretch.
The story of the day wasn’t just Stenson’s round of 63. It was his putter.
His putt on the 15th hole from 51 feet away was just absurd. This birdie gave Stenson a two-shot lead over Mickelson with three holes to play.
The best part: Stenson walked the putt down and celebrated with an awesome fist pump as the putt dropped.
Including his final round, Stenson shot -6 (!) on the 14th-18th holes during the week at Royal Troon. Nobody capped their rounds off any better than Stenson throughout the entire weekend and it showed on Sunday.
The perfect cap to his first major win came on the 18th hole. After taking the walk up the final fairway with the lead and the tournament seemingly in the bag, Stenson approached one final putt to finish off his tournament with a 63; the same score Phil Mickelson opened the tournament with to top the 18-hole leaderboard on Thursday.
Like he did all day long, Stenson drained it.
The birdie on the 18th hole to seal up the championship and his first major victory was his 10th (!) birdie on the round, which tied The Open record for most birdies in one round.
With the win, Stenson became the first golfer from Sweden to win a major golf tournament.
For more coverage of The Open Championship, please visit our hub page.