Instead
of another excruciating loss in a major championship, Phil Mickelson
got a chance to celebrate early.
A
brilliant closing round at challenging Muirfield made it possible.
Mickelson
won the claret jug for the first time and his fifth major
championship with a 5-under 66 on Sunday, matching the best round of
the tournament on a day when the other contenders -- including TigerWoods -- faded away.
Lefty
birdied four of the last six holes, winning by three strokes and
emphatically erasing the memory of all those close calls that didn't
go his way -- the latest one just last month when he was runner-up at
the U.S. Open for a staggering sixth time.
"This
is such an accomplishment for me," Mickelson said. "I never
knew if I'd be able to develop the game and the shots to play links
golf effectively. To play what is arguably the best round of my
career, to putt the way I putted, to shoot the round of my life, it
just feels amazing to win the claret jug."
Overall,
Mickelson has eight runner-up finishes in the majors, including one
at golf's oldest major championship just two years ago.
Now,
at age 43, he's finally got his name on the claret jug, three-fourths
of the way along to a career Grand Slam and assuring he'll go down as
one of the greats of the game.
"I
putted soooo good," Mickelson said.
He
began his amazing finish with a 8-footer for birdie at the 13th,
getting his score back to even par and giving him a score that he
thought would be in the mix at the end if he simply parred out.
Mickelson
did much better than that, rolling in a 20-footer at the 14th for
another birdie, reaching the green in two at the par-5 17th to set up
yet another birdie, and closing it with a 10-footer on the final hole
for a 3-under 281 total.
Even
though there were still four groups still on the course, Mickelson
knew he had done more than enough to win. He pumped his fists and let
out a yell. His caddie burst into tears. His wife and kids celebrated
just off the green.
Lee Westwood began the day with a two-stroke lead but was again denied
his first major title. He struggled to a 75 that left him four shots
back, and Mickelson's victory was assured when Westwood didn't come
close to making the eagle he needed on the 17th. Woods was two
shots out at the start but a 74 left him five shots behind the
winner.
Mickelson
was the only player to break par over four days at a baked-out course
that bedeviled the world's best golfers.
Everyone
but Mickelson, that is. Henrik Stenson was the runner-up at 284. Ian
Poulter and Adam Scott finished another shot back.
"Phil
must've played really well," Westwood said. "Five-under par
is a good round of golf this afternoon."
Source: fornews
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