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Henrik Stenson & Phil Mickelson Put on a
Show at Royal Troon
Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson put on a
show for the ages at theOpenChampionship
at Royal Troon in July. Both men refused to
lose and when one would gain an advantage
the other would reach new heights and dare
the other to match him.
Mickelson opened the tournament with a
first-round 8-under-par 63 and surged into
the lead. Mickelson still led after the second
round, but Stenson fired a 65 and closed to
within one shot of the lead.
Mickelson’s third round 70 moved him one
shot behind Stenson, who carded a 68 to
take the third-round lead. The rest of the
field had fallen far behind, Bill Haas was
solo third, five shots behind Mickelson.
It was a two-man
race on Sunday
and they did
not disappoint.
Mickelson fired a 65 and played one of the
best rounds of his career and on any other
day would have won his sixth major and
second Claret Jug.
Stenson simply would not be denied his
first major championship title. He was three
ahead of Mickelson at the end of the day
posting a nearly perfect 63 on a firm and
fast Troon golf course.
Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus’ “Duel in
the Sun” at Turnberry in 1977 has long been
touted as the best Open Championship, but
the Stenson/Mickelson heavyweight bout in
2016 was it’s equal, if not better.
Davis Love earned redemption as the Ryder
Cup Captain
In2012DavisLovewas thecaptainas theU.S.
Ryder Cup team that lost to the Europeans at
Medinah. Team USA completely ran off the
rails at Gleneagles in 2014 in a rout by the
Europeans, which caused a flap between
Phil Mickelson and team captain,
Tom Watson.
Phil didn’t like the way things were
being handled by the PGA in picking
a captain and developing a long-
range strategy for maintaining a competitive
team in the future. He fought for a committee
to advise and consult with the PGA on every
aspect of the U.S. Ryder Cup team and he
got his wish.
The likeable and highly respected, Davis
Love was tapped once again to lead
the U.S. Ryder Cup team out of the
darkness and into the 21 Century.
It was difficult to disagree with any of
Love’s decisions leading up to the actual
competition, In fact, he consulted with a
wide-ranging group of advisors on every
decision and evidently the advice was
sound.
NWO Golf Links