One of the most prestigious events on the golf calendar concluded with an absolutely thrilling finish as Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson battled to the very end with an epic final round at The Open Championship on Sunday. Meanwhile, the LPGA was not about to be completely overlooked with another incredible ending that featured world No. 1 Lydia Ko battling some stiff competition in a playoff to determine the winner of the Marathon Classic. Here is a recap of the events from around the world this past weekend from a golf fantasy perspective.
The Open Championship
PGA Tour
We’ll start our golf fantasy recap of the PGA Tour with Henrik Stenson. He came out on top at the end of an epic battle with Mickelson at The Open Championship on Sunday. Stenson carded the lowest final round score in the history of the tournament with a 63 to win his first major championship in an unbelievable fashion. That 63 was the equal score to Mickelson, who shot a 63 in the opening round. A lot of people felt that this tournament was Mickelson’s to lose when he shot a 63 and lipped out a put on the 18th hole for a 62. However, it just wasn’t hist day…again. He shot a bogey-free 65 that would have been good enough to win on most days, but wasn’t enough to beat out Stenson and repeat his 2013 success.
Stenson’s winning score of 20 under par was ultimately three clear of Mickelson but there was no denying the incredible theater that was the two going back and forth at Royal Troon. There was a lot of talk about that head-to-head battle closely resembling the much-revered Dual in the Sun between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus 39 years ago. There is no doubt that this tournament will be remembered as one of the all-time best. The fact that Mickelson wasn’t able to pull out the victory despite a flawless final round was a crushing blow for the veteran but it was also testament to just how dominant of a performance Stenson delivered. The 40-year-old Swede completed the 63 for a total of 264 to smash the old record for The Open Championship and also become the first man to shoot a 20-under par, lowering Tiger Woods’ previous 19-under record set at St. Andrews in 2000. Other notable finishes included Rory McIlroy tying for fifth at four-under and Dustin Johnson finishing tied for ninth at two-under in a pair of strong outings that were understandably overlooked based on the incredible battle at the top of the leaderboard. Next up on the men’s side is the RBC Canadian Open from the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario this week.
Top 10 Scores From The British Open
Henrik Stenson -20
Phil Mickelson -17
J.B. Holmes -6
Steve Stricker -5
Rory McIlroy -4
Tyrell Hatton -4
Sergio Garcia -4
Andrew Johnston -3
Dustin Johnson -2
Soren Kjeldsen -2
Bill Haas -2
Marathon Classic
LPGA Tour
We start our golf fantasy recap with Lydia Ko. The World No. 1 recorded her fourth LPGA Tour victory of the season by surviving a three-way playoff with rookie sensation Ariya Jutanugarn and Mirim Lee. The top-ranked Ko sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole to repeat at the Marathon Classic following her 2014 success and add to her impressive resume with a 14th LPGA Tour title. Ko improved to 4-1 in playoffs with the lone loss coming to Brooke Henderson this year in the KPMG Women’s PGA earlier this year. It was also Ko’s fifth straight top-five finish dat back to the Women’s PGA and her second win over that span.
Other notable finishes in golf fantasy included Stacy Lewis finishing fifth at 11-under and of course Henderson finishing tied for-14 38th at even par. As strong of a season she’s had, she’s gone cold the last few weeks. She finished 64 at the U.S. Open and missed the cut at the Walmart Arkansas Championship. However, she did get the win at the Cambia Portland Classic and has 11 Top 10 results on the year.
Next up for the LPGA Tour is the UL International Crown, which goes this week from the Merit Club in Chicago, Illinois. Check out our golf fantasy preview on Wednesday.
Top 10 Scores From The Marathon Classic
Lydia Ko -14
Mirim Lee -14
Ariya Jutanugarn -14
Hyo Joo Kim -13
Stacy Lewis -11
Beatriz Recari -10
Alison Lee -10
Ha Nang Jang -9
Azahara Munoz -8
Kelly Shon -8
