Earlier this week, we had 20-year-old amateur Tom Lewis tie the 18-hole lead. So did Thomas Bjorn who's looking for redemption after the heartbreaking 2003 loss at the same venue.
Later on in the week, more and more great storylines emerged. Tom Lehman turning back the clock. Lucas Glover looking to jump-start his career. Darren Clarke looking to finally win a major after busting out of a slump that made him disappear from the golf world from 2008 to 2010. Chad Campbell suddenly appearing out of the blue and contending. Ditto for Anthony Kim. Martin Kaymer bidding for 2 major championships in under 12 months. Miguel Angel Jimenez's hilarious warm-up routine that catches a lot of golfers attention with him contending. 2012 Ryder Cup captain Davis Love contending. Rickie Fowler looking for a breakthrough win. And Dustin Johnson looking to overcome the 2010 major heartbreaks and win a major.
So many great storylines and so many players to root for. It looked like nothing was going to ruin the championship. Just a stress-free, relaxing Open Championship, right?
Almost right, but WRONG.
Through 3 rounds, one guy that you'd never expect to contend in the Open Championship, Phil Mickelson, lurked only five behind the leader Darren Clarke after the three rounds.
Phil was the one guy which I did NOT want to win at all. Phil, the guy with the jiggly man breasts and the silly, obnoxious, sheepish smile. A guy that appeared to be a nice guy but looks far from genuine. He looked like a guy who's hiding something. Only trying to be nice to get money and publicity from the media.
Him winning would ruin a perfectly good tournament. There are so many players who deserved a win, and it must not be Phil, who has already had many wins. He was EASILY the primary antagonist for this Open Championship. No good story does not have an antagonist, so this is fitting.
It was a great morning, with all those wonderful players teeing off. As player by player teed off, the anticipation for the leaders increased. A lot of excitement building up. The best part about all this excitement? Three words. Anybody. But. Phil.
Coming into this week Phil has only had one Top 10 in 17 British Open starts, so one would easily consider him irrelevant. Add that to the fact that he drives the ball erratically and missed many short putts throughout the week. There was no way he was going to be in contention or threaten to win.
Or is it?
Phil parred the first hole, and birdied the second hole. At first, one's initial reaction is: B.F.D! The 2nd hole was downwind to a very benign hole location! EVERYBODY's birdieing that f'ing hole! Phil still can't win, just wait until he bogeys the third or the fourth!
Except he didn't. He parred the third hole, and after a good drive and good second shot, he sank the 18 foot birdie putt on the VERY difficult Par-4 fourth hole. That was when the first alarm signal of threat began being sent.
When Phil made a par save on the 5th with a 8 foot putt, the threat increased knowing that Phil didn't look like he was going to lose momentum anytime.
Thankfully, Darren Clarke stayed tough with clutch par putts on 1 and 3, and a birdie on 2 in between. No way Darren Clarke was going to give this away.
But just the next half-hour, Darren Clarke's lead vanished when Phil sank a 23 foot birdie putt on 6 and a 40 foot eagle putt on 7, contrasted by Clarke's bogey on 4.
UH-OH!!! RED ALERT!!! BRITISH OPEN IN BIG TROUBLE!!! That was when all hell began breaking loose. A great British Open was about to go down in flames thanks to Phil.
The danger signal reached its maximum point when Phil crushed an iron into the wind to 15 feet on the 8th hole. If Phil were to make that putt, he would have the outright lead.
The only hope was for Phil to miss that putt and lose his momentum.
Thankfully, Phil finally got off this insane, ridiculous momentum train when his putt caught the right edge and lipped out. A big crisis averted. Big bullet dodged by Darren Clarke.
All hope for a happy ending had vanished at that time, but with that miss, some hope had rekindled as Phil went to the 9th hole and Clarke played the 7th.
Suddenly, a huge patch of hope burst onto the scene when Clarke arrived on the 7th hole. His 25-foot eagle putt went up a mound and went down, caught the right edge and drilled into the hole. The crowd went thunderous.
Darren Clarke suddenly had a two-stroke lead! Maybe not all hope was gone.
Just then, Phil stuffed his iron on 9 to 12 feet. Big trouble given the fact that Phil was putting well all day. Uh-oh! Thankfully, he missed the putt and another ray of hope had returned.
Darren Clarke then caught a great break on 8 when his indifferent approach caught a good bounce on the mounds and rolled onto the green. A two-putt par kept his momentum going.
The temporary burst of good hope was very momentary however. Phil inexplicably birdied 10 from the rough when he drove into the rough, hit to 18 feet and made the putt. One-stroke lead from Clarke.
Then came the next hole, Hole 9 for Clarke and Hole 11 for Phil. The defining 15-minutes of this championship that turned EVERYTHING around.
After a decent iron shot, Phil had 30 feet for birdie. The birdie putt was left 2 and a half feet short. A formality for par right? WRONG!!!!! Phil got careless and it hit the left lip and spun out. Oh, boy!!! That must have been the moment of the championship right there!!! What a hilarious and priceless moment!!!
And it gets even better!!! Darren Clarke drove it into the rough on a very NASTY lie. He tried to hit a knock-down shot which cleared some VERY deep fairway bunkers by only a couple of yards and bounced all the way to the green, 50 feet to the hole. Clarke lagged the putt to 5 feet and sank the par putt.
That was probably THE most relieving 15-minutes of the championship, BUT...30 minutes later, something might be even better that went on to happen!!!
After a perfect drive on 13 right smack in the middle, Phil only had a 9-iron left for his second shot, but he pulled the iron and it went long and right, in a back-right hole location, leaving an awkward chip. He chipped to 8 feet and his par putt burned the left edge. Drops another shot.
And meanwhile, Darren Clarke hit his tee shot into a bunker on 11, blasted it to six feet, and sank the par putt. Another huge moment of relief that 15 minutes was.
Things just got better from there on. Phil missed a seven foot birdie putt on 14, making that hole the only time all week he didn't shoot birdie or better on a Par 5. While all the meantime Clarke hit ANOTHER indifferent approach on 12 but got ANOTHER lucky bounce from the mounds, making another great par.
Then Phil bogeyed 15 after hitting his drive into a pot bunker, while Clarke made another nice par save on 13 when his approach flew over the green. At that point Clarke was FOUR ahead of Mickelson. Unless Clarke REEEEALLY goofs off, there was NO WAY Mickelson was going to ruin Clarke's day!
The nail on the coffin struck the very next hole. Phil hit his approach to 35 feet at the 16th. Desperately needing a birdie, Phil hammered his birdie putt 6 feet past the hole and missed his comebacker for par. Four bogeys in the last six holes for Phil now. Now it was for sure that Phil wasn't going to win, and the ending was going to be good. The fact that Clarke wasn't going to succumb to the pressure was even further made certain when his closest pursuiter Dustin Johnson double-bogeyed 14 after he tried to hit a draw for his second shot but it double-crossed and went hard right over the white stakes and out-of-bounds.
The next hour was just a coronation for Darren Clarke now that all his competitors have fell by the wayside, the most hilarious one being Phil, who missed a 10-foot birdie putt on 17 and then pushed an approach shot so badly on 18 that it went into the grandstands.
Being Mr. Phony Nice Guy, Phil threw the ball back to the crowd when the crows threw Phil's ball to him. Yuck, another phony attempt to enhance his image. Phony, phony, PHONY. Bet he hit his ball in the stands on purpose just so he can pretend to be a nice guy again by having an excuse to give the fans a ball.
Anyhoo, Phil parred that hole, and the stage was cleared for Darren Clarke, who did bogey the last 2 holes but still finished with a stress-free 70 that gave him a three-stroke win. A very wonderful redemption story indeed.
Great major. A great champion in Darren Clarke. He's well liked by his peers, would never be referred to as FIGJAM. He was signing plenty of autographs before the round. The guy went through some rough times in his life, but he doesn't have a self-serving publicity machine going to get the sympathy support. Just a decent guy.
The best part is, the Anybody But Phil philosophy stands true for yet another major. And for the people that know Phil is a phony, they can rest easy, knowing that this wonderful tournament again had another happy ending and Mr. Phony Photo-Op Krispy Kreme Guy had another loss and possibly blew his most golden opportunity at winning a British Open.
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