After shooting three-under par in the first round of The Open Championship at Royal Troon in South Ayrshire, Scotland, Henrik Stenson shot up the leaderboard and is on the heels of front-running Phil Mickelson heading into the third round of play today.
The Swedish-born Stenson shot a six-under par in the second round and is one stroke off the pace from Mickelson, who shot a course-record 132 over the first two days of The Open.
“I was five back of Phil from yesterday, so of course, I was hoping to gain a little, and the way it turned out I gained quite a lot,” Stenson said. “It's still early in the tournament though. We're only halfway through or not even there. So we'll see what happens the rest of the day.
“But so far so good. I'm happy with the way I played of course. It's not easy out there. Yeah, it's a great result, really.”
On his way to getting within a stroke of the leader, Stenson hit 71 percent of the fairways and 89 percent of the greens in regulation. In addition to averaging 286 yards per drive, Stenson putted just 28 times throughout the second round.
Despite battling through difficult weather conditions, including cold temperatures and rain, he bogeyed just one hole, No. 9, and birdied seven others in shooting a six-under par.
“I think I timed it quite well,” Stenson said. “It was quite playable the first five holes before the rain hit the first time, and I managed to pick up three birdies on 3, 4, and 5. Then it eased off and I birdied another one on 7. So I think timing was good throughout the front nine.
“Only bogey was a bit of a soft one. I missed the second shot right on 9 and didn't get up and down. Then the fun really started. It was blowing a bit more and starting to rain quite heavily, and I birdied 10 in those conditions.
“Then, I was hanging on for dear life on 11 and 12 really. They were playing tough, and got away with a couple of pars, and then finished up quite tidy with another couple of birdies on the way home.”
Stenson again finds himself in contention at a major championship, and is even more hungry to continue fighting through the elements to earn his first win after top-four finishes at the U.S. Open, The Open and the PGA Championship over the last three years.
“There's been a couple of chances, and I'm sure if things would have gone my way I could have had one or two of these, but not to this date,” Stenson said. “Probably the PGA that Dufner won I ended up in a divot on the 15th hole in the final round and took a five instead of potentially a three on that short par-four there and things could have looked differently as well.
“But you get some good breaks and some bad breaks. If I keep putting myself in position and knocking on the door, I hope I get a couple of good breaks at the right times.”
Although Stenson knows he has a chance to win his first major championship, he is aware of the fact that it will not be easy, especially if Mickelson remains at the top of the leaderboard for the remainder of the weekend.
“I just wanted to turn things around because I know, like I said, I'm 40,” Stenson said. “I'm not going to play these tournaments forever and ever. I don't have another 50 goes at them. It might be a dozen or 15 in total. So I better start putting myself in position and giving myself chances if I want to make it happen. After six tournaments not being there, it's certainly time to get going.
“Phil's not going to back down. He's got a number of majors already and he wants to have another couple I'm sure. So he's not going to take his foot off the pedal. He's going to keep on trying as hard as he can, and he's a great player. I've played a lot of golf with him this year. It feels like we've been out there every second week. I enjoy his company and I'm looking forward to the challenge, if, like I said, we don't know. We might not even be 1 and 2 at the end of the day. It's still 50-50 I'll be out with him.
“So whatever happens, happens. I'm looking forward to the challenge over the weekend.”
