Molinari survives wild day to win British Open

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Francesco Molinari didn’t get the loudest cheers for the best golf at British Open.

He was overlooked for so much of Sunday playing alongside Tiger Woods, who caused pure pandemonium at Carnoustie by taking the lead in the final round of a major for the first time in nine years.

Molinari settled for the best cheer of them all.


The last one.

Amid so much chaos — seven players atop the leaderboard, six of them still tied on the back nine — Molinari played a steady hand by going the entire weekend without a bogey and finishing with a 5-foot birdie putt that secured his place in history as Italy’s first major champion.

“Clearly, in my group, the attention wasn’t really on me, let’s put it that way,” Molinari said, the gleaming claret jug in front of him. “If someone was expecting a charge, they probably weren’t expecting it from me. But it’s been the same the whole of my career.”

His charge was a 2-under 69 in the strongest wind of the week, the only player from the last four groups to break par.

Woods lost the lead with one bad swing that would have been even farther left of the 11th green had it not crashed into the fans, leading to double bogey. He followed that with a bogey and never caught up. He had to settle for a 71.

Jordan Spieth, tied for the lead in his bid to go back-to-back in the British Open, failed to make a single birdie and shot 76, his highest score Sunday in a major.

Kevin Chappell made two double bogeys, the last one on No. 17 that derailed his hopes. Kevin Kisner made his double bogey early. Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose each made a run with eagles on the par-5 14th hole, McIlroy with a 50-foot putt , Rose with a second shot that bounced off the base of the pin. They ran out of holes.

Xander Schauffele, the last hope to keep alive the American streak of five straight majors, was one shot behind until he sent a long iron to the right of the 17th and failed to make a 15-foot putt for par.


Molinari clinched it with a driver that skirted the edge of a pot bunker, leaving him a lob wedge from 112 yards to 5 feet. He poured it in, raised his right fist and shook it lightly before slamming it for emphasis.

Then, he waited in the trailer to see if anyone could catch him. At one point, he went over to the practice green, but not to prepare for a playoff.

“I probably would have felt sick watching on TV,” he said.

Molinari finished at 8-under 276, the lowest score in eight Opens at Carnoustie, the course where Jean Van de Velde threw away the British Open with a triple bogey on the last hole in 1999, where Padraig Harrington twice hit into Barry Burn on the last hole to make double bogey and still won.

“Just disbelief, to be honest,” the 35-year-old said. “To go the weekend bogey-free, it’s unthinkable. Playing with Tiger was another challenge. But I felt really good this morning. I felt I was ready for the challenge.”

Woods had every reason to believe he would cap a most improbable comeback from four back surgeries.

His red shirt blazing against the yellow grass of a dry Scottish summer, Woods hit driver into the wind on the par-4 fourth to set up birdie. Into the wind on the par-5 sixth, three deep bunkers to the right and out-of-bounds to the left, he got to the front of the green with a driver and a 3-wood for another birdie.



And just like the Woods of old, the players he was chasing started to collapse.

Spieth gambled with a shot to clear the burn on No. 6 and went into a gorse bush, making double bogey. Schauffele chopped up the next hole for double bogey.

Woods had the lead.

And then he lost it with two bad holes. Still in range, he couldn’t get close enough for a birdie when it mattered. It was the first time since the 2007 U.S. Open that he trailed going into the final round of a major, had the lead and didn’t win.

His anger over his mistakes was tempered by perspective, comparing it to Serena Williams losing in the finals at Wimbledon.

“The beginning of the year, if they’d have said, ‘You’re playing The Open Championship,’ I would have said I’d be very lucky to do that. Serena and I are good friends. I’m sure she’ll probably call me and talk to me about it because you’ve got to put things in perspective. … I know that it’s going to sting for a little bit here, but given where I was to where I’m at now, blessed.”



It might sting even worse for Spieth. One day after a bogey-free round of 65 to share the lead, he had a birdie-free round at the worst time. His best chance was at the 14th, where he three-putted for par from about 40 feet.

“When you put yourself in position enough times, it goes your way sometimes, it doesn’t go your way sometimes,” Spieth said, who goes to the PGA Championship in three weeks for a chance at the career Grand Slam.

The victory adds to Molinari’s best stretch of golf.

Now at a career-best No. 6 in the world, he has won three times and been runner-up twice in his last six tournaments. One of those was three weeks ago at the Quicken Loans National when he shot 62 in the final round and Woods, the tournament host, presented him the trophy.

This round wasn’t flashy, and neither is Molinari. He saved par with 8-foot putts on the 12th and 13th, two of the most pivotal putts all day.

But not the most memorable.

“That putt on the last, I’ll never forget,” he said.

source: sports.inquirer.net

British Open showdown: Stenson leads Mickelson by a shot

TROON, Scotland — Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson delivered what everyone expects out of a major championship.

They matched birdies and improbable par saves. Momentum could change with any shot. The lead changed four times over four hours of golf at its highest level, played in the cold wind and occasional rain off the Irish Sea. All the British Open lacked Saturday (Sunday Manila time) was a winner.

Turns out this was only the preview to a duel at Royal Troon.

Stenson took the lead for the last time with another two-shot swing on an inward par 3, and he kept it with a nifty up-and-down on the 18th for par and a 3-under 68, the second straight day that no one had a better score.

That gave the 40-year-old Swede his first lead in a major, even if it was just one shot over someone who already has five majors and his name on the claret jug.

“There’s only one thing that matters tomorrow,” Stenson said. “I know he’s not going to back down, and I’m certainly going to try to not back down, either. So it should be an exciting afternoon. I’ve worked hard these first three days to put myself in this situation and I’m going to try my hardest tomorrow to finish the job.”

Links golf can deliver some strange finishes, though this had all the trappings of a two-man race on Sunday (Monday Manila time).

Stenson had his third straight round in the 60s — no one has ever won at Royal Troon with all four rounds in the 60s — and was at 12-under 201. He is trying to become only the eighth player dating to Old Tom Morris in 1861 to win his first major after turning 40.

Mickelson, winless since he lifted golf’s oldest trophy at Muirfield three years ago, had a 70. His game was nowhere near as sharp as his opening-round 63 that tied a major championship record. Even so, he came up with the rights shots at the right time until Stenson passed him late in the afternoon.

“Some days it’s easy and it looks pretty like the first couple,” Mickelson said. “Some days it’s hard and it looks terrible, like it did today. But either way, I shot three rounds under par.”

He made a 25-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole for a two-shot lead. Stenson answered with a 5-iron to 6 feet for birdie on the next hole to tie for the lead when Mickelson three-putted, only his third bogey of the week.

Mickelson regained the lead with a pitch to 4 feet for birdie on the par-5 16th, only for the Swede to answer again, this time with an all-out 3-iron into the wind on the 220-yard 17th hole to 20 feet. Mickelson lost the lead by missing the green to the left and making bogey.

Everyone else felt like mere spectators.

Bill Haas, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour who is rarely heard from at majors, was solid with a 69 and alone in third. It’s his highest position ever in a major, yet he was six shots off the lead. Another shot back was Andrew Johnston, the Englishman with a big belly and beard to match who goes by “Beef.” He broke par for the third straight day with a 70.

It was unlikely to matter.

This was all about Stenson and Mickelson, two powerful players with different styles and different credentials, mainly the number of majors — five for Mickelson, none for Stenson. Mickelson spoke earlier in the week about not having as much pressure knowing he already has won them.

Not since Davis Love III and Justin Leonard shared the lead and were seven shots clear of the field in the 1997 PGA Championship has the final round of a major took on the appearance of match play.

“I was happy enough to throw two good punches in there on the par 3s and pick up two shots on either one of them to come back out on top at the end of the third round,” Stenson said. “I’ve always been of the thought that it’s better to be one ahead than one behind, because that means Phil’s got to play better than I do.”

Mickelson finished three shots ahead of Stenson three years ago at Muirfield when Lefty closed with a 66 in one of the best final rounds of a major. He hasn’t won another tournament since, and at age 46, it appeared time was running out.

A victory would give him six majors, same as Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino. He also would be the third-oldest major champion behind Julius Boros (48) and Morris, with whom Mickelson shares a birthday — June 16, albeit 149 years apart. The 1861 Open was played in September.

Stenson was on the verge of falling two shots behind until he holed a 40-foot par putt on the 10th. Two holes later, Mickelson was in danger of losing the lead when he pushed his 2-iron toward trouble and was fortunate the ball deflected off a piece of prickly gorse. He had just enough room to hammer it up the fairway, and then played a shot rarely seen in links golf — instead of running it up along the ground, he spun it back down a ridge to 6 feet for a key par.

“I got lucky that that ball didn’t go into the gorse, even though I didn’t have a back swing,” Mickelson said. “I still had a chance to advance it a little bit. I still hit a good shot to advance it down the fairway like I did, and found a way to get up and down.”

Now, they have one more round, this time with a claret jug at stake.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Zach Johnson wins British Open in playoff

ST ANDREWS, Scotland - American Zach Johnson claimed the second major victory of his career when he beat Australian Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa in a four-hole playoff at the British Open on Monday.

Johnson, who won the US Masters in 2007, was one under par for the extra holes. Oosthuizen was level par and Leishman two over.

The 39-year-old wiped tears from his eyes before hugging his wife as he walked off the 18th green to pick up the coveted Claret Jug and a first prize of 1.15 million pounds ($1.79 million).

One of the first to congratulate Johnson was fellow American Jordan Spieth who failed by one stroke to make the playoff after a day of fluctuating fortunes.

Spieth, 21, bidding to become the first player since compatriot Ben Hogan in 1953 to land the opening three majors of the year, finished with a three-under 69 for 274, 14 under.

Johnson (66), Leishman (66) and Oosthuizen (69) ended the regulation 72 holes on 15 under.

Irish amateur Paul Dunne, who went into the final round in a tie for the lead, slumped to a closing 78 and had to make do with a share for 30th position on 282.

It was only the second time the championship had finished on a Monday after heavy rain and strong winds caused havoc earlier in the tournament. — Reuters

Defending champ Mickelson stays in touch despite curate's egg of a round

Phil Mickelson tried to accentuate the positives despite a chequered British Open second round on Friday that featured "a terrible putt," a "couple of loose shots" and a lost ball.

The defending champion is safely through to the weekend on level-par 144 although his two-under round of 70 was something of a curate's egg of a performance - good in parts, horrible in others.

"I played really well today but there were a couple of loose shots," Mickelson told reporters on a boiling hot day at Royal Liverpool. "I ended up giving four or five shots away.

The long 10th hole summed up the American left-hander's display as he lost his ball off the tee before striking a sumptuous fourth to six feet to salvage his par five.

Mickelson conjured another brilliant stroke at the 17th but failed to take advantage on the green.

"I hit such a great shot to that pin," he explained. "I had to hook a five-iron into a direct slice wind, ran it to four feet and hit a terrible putt."

The five-times major winner said the weather conditions would now dictate if he still had a chance to make a successful defense of his title.

"I wanted to get to level-par so that putt on 18 was big," added Mickelson after ending his round with a birdie four.

"If the wind stays up I'm still in the tournament but I have a feeling the conditions will be softer this afternoon and if that's the case I will be a long way back."

The forecast is not good for Saturday and that is when Mickelson fancies his chances of climbing the leaderboard.

"There are going to be a lot of scores of five, six and seven over par," he said. "If I can shoot something under par I'll be right in it for Sunday."

Mickelson said he tried to provide some comfort to playing partner Ernie Els when the South African drove his tee shot into the face of a spectator in Thursday's first round and left him covered in blood.

"I tried to say, 'Look you can't worry about that...I do that all the time'," he added to roars of laughter.

"But it didn't help I guess."

Double British Open champion Els was unable to rally from the first-hole calamity, ballooning to rounds of 79 and 73 to miss the cut. - Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com