2013 British Open: Phil Mickelson shoots round of his life to win at Muirfield

Phil Mickelson, in black from his golf shirt down to his flip flops, paid a surprise visit on Wednesday to the folks who dress up his golf bag with all those Callaway clubs and passed around his shiny, new British Open trophy.

Needless to say, there was a full house at HQ when Lefty stopped by the Carlsbad, Calif., offices with the Claret Jug. It was a much more casual and relaxed affair for Phil, leading to this wonderful shot of the Cali bro in all his glory:

It’s more fun with Phil Mickelson. If Tiger Woods is a Nick Saban-like Alabama machine that clinically gets ahead and destroys you from out front, Phil is like a Dana Holgorsen West Virginia team that could light up the scoreboard and set records, implode at any minute in red-faced fashion, or score 28 points to come from behind in the final five minutes as all watching lose their minds. Excellence, dominance isn’t always fun. But with Phil, it is.

On Sunday, Mickelson played the best round of his life -- rolling in birdies on four of the last six holes to run away with the 2013 Open Championship.

Tiger Woods and his ex-caddie Steve Williams apparently patched things up after Woods and Williams’ current employer, Adam Scott, finished their final rounds at the British Open on Sunday.

The two, who teamed up to win 13 of 14 major championships before Woods sacked Williams in 2011, shook hands on the 18th green, shared a few words, and parted after Williams gave Tiger a friendly pat on the back.

Tiger Woods, after yet another woeful weekend that’s become par for the course for the world No. 1 who has yet to come from behind to win a major event, remains at 14 titles and counting.

“I’ve won 14 and in that spell where I haven’t won since Torrey [the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines], I’ve been in there. It’s not like I’ve lost my card and not playing out here. So I’ve won some tournaments in that stretch and I’ve been in probably about half the majors on the back nine on Sunday with a chance to win during that stretch,” Woods told reporters after finishing in a tie for sixth place at 2-over.

For a player who had a reputation of struggling on Sundays, Phil Mickelson sure didn’t show it during the final round at Muirfield. Not only did he turn in the round of the tournament by shooting a 5-under 66 on his way to claiming the Claret Jug, but Mickelson was as good as it gets during the crucial moments.

Mickelson was in position to win the U.S. Open a month ago at Merion, but he couldn’t close. He was far from sharp, even with his wedges, and bogeyed three of the final six holes to lose by two strokes. When he hit the closing stretch on Sunday, it was a different story.

Phil Mickelson’s dominant final round at Muirfield took a lot of the drama out of the British Open. While his big lead didn’t leave much suspense as the leaders finished up, it did allow the engraver to get a head start on adding Mickelson’s name to the Claret Jug.

With a long last name like Mickelson, the engraver probably appreciated the extra time.

Following his third round, Phil Mickelson said he thought he may have a chance on Sunday if he was able to shoot a round in the 60s. He came out and did just that and is now the leader in the clubhouse at 3-under.

Mickelson shot a 5-under 66 on Sunday, thanks in large part to an excellent closing stretch. He made the turn at 2-under and was 1-under on his round heading to No. 13. Back-to-back birdies moved him into the red for the tournament with the difficult closing stretch still to play. He bogeyed No. 15 and No. 16 on Saturday, but managed to come away with pars on both holes Sunday, including an excellent saving putt on the 16th.

Update: Phil Mickelson won the first British Open of his career, taking home the winner’s check. Here is a look at how the top 10 paid out.

It’s crowded at the top of the British Open leaderboard, and in addition to battling for the Claret Jug, the players near the lead are also jostling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The winner of the Open Championship will be rewarded handsomely with a $1.4 million first-place prize.

Ian Poulter went on a tear in Sunday’s final round of the British Opener, canning an eagle and a slew of birdies, thanks in large part to a new putter he acquired after trolling Twitter for a flat stick.

Poulter, the putting savant hero of the 2012 European Ryder Cup team, began the fourth round at Muirfield eight shots back of 54-hole leader Lee Westwood and got off to a ho-hum even-par start (a bogey and a birdie) through eight. An eagle-3 on the ninth kick-started an amazing run of four consecutive threes that included back-to-back-to-back birdies on Nos. 10 through 12.

It has been an eventful first seven holes for Lee Westwood, but he’s been able to avoid significant damage and at 2-under, still leads the British Open.

Westwood dropped a shot early with a bogey at No. 3 and appeared to be in more trouble at No. 5 when he hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker. He was forced to pitch out and had more than 200 yards remaining on his third shot. Playing a long iron into the greens at Muirfield hasn’t been a recipe for success this week, but Westwood drilled a 3-iron to about 10 feet. He made the birdie putt to get back to even on the day. His tee shot on the Par 3 seventh hole found a deep bunker and Westwood was unable to get the ball out on his first attempt.

Lee Westwood walked to the par-3 seventh hole at Muirield with a two-shot lead. He nearly walked off the green tied with Henrik Stenson, but made a huge clutch “saving” bogey putt to say in front by a shot. Westwood’s second bogey of the day was the result of a poor tee ball that landed in a particularly brutal spot in one of Muirfield’s pot bunkers. The ball settled in fried-egg fashion, almost right up against the face of the trap. After exploring his options, which included coming out sideways into the fairway, Westwood decided to give it a run at the green. That didn’t turn out so well:

As ESPN’s Paul Azinger noted, Westwood was lucky the ball didn’t drop back into his foot print and that it eventually snuck farther away from the wall. That allowed him to get up-and-out, and drain the huge bogey putt to hold onto the lead.

It’s Sunday at a major championship and Tiger Woods is struggling to make a move once again. While players like Ian Poulter and Phil Mickelson pick up shots on leader Lee Westwood, Tiger has already dropped two in his first five holes. Woods has struggled to adjust to the green speeds that have varied from day to day. The round started with a poor three-putt, a miss on a relatively flat five-footer for par at Muirfield’s opening hole:

The struggles on the green continued at No. 4, where Woods dropped another shot to fall into the black at 1-over. The ugliness has not been confined to the green, however, as he badly blocked an approach shot out to the right on No. 5. That mishit led to this rather animated reaction from Mr. Tiger:

The final round of the British Open is in full swing with the final groups now making their way about the front nine at Muirfield. Tiger Woods opened the day at 1-under, but he’s now even after an early bogey.

Woods is having issues on the greens early as they are playing significantly slower than they did during the first two rounds. His approach shot on No. 1 came up well short, leaving him a long birdie putt from the front edge. His lag putt came up about five feet short. His par save didn’t have enough pace and it broke wide of the cup, leading to an early bogey.

Tiger Woods came up short on putts on the first three holes of Sunday’s final round, which is not all that surprising considering how he blasted the speed of the greens after his 1-over 72 third round.

“It was very different today. It was a lot slower out there,” Woods told reporters Saturday following a lackluster day that included three bogeys and two birdies. “The greens were slower. It looked like they didn’t roll some of them or cut them. It was very different. Eighteen was really slow. I’m sure that there were quite a few guys leaving putts short from below the hole.

Tiger Woods began the final round of The Open two strokes off the lead, but he’s now three back after an early bogey on the first hole.

Woods bogeyed No. 1 in the first round, but that was a result of a poor tee shot. On Sunday it was his putter that cost him. Woods drilled his tee shot into the middle of the fairway and was in good position to hit a solid approach. He came up short, however, leaving a long birdie putt from the front of the green. Woods’ lag putt was excellent, leaving him about five feet to save par.

Muirfield continues to be the star of the 2013 British Open this week, punishing players to the point where the course is the center of discussion, much like at a U.S. Open. But through all four rounds, and particularly on the weekend, we’ve seen some good early morning scores, with players taking advantage of the greens that are less trampled and hardened out by the afternoon sun. On Saturday it was Sergio Garcia making an early move and getting into the clubhouse in 3-under 68, and today it was Jason Dufner who went low with a round of 67.

Dufner did a lot of his work on the back side, coming in with a 33 and four red numbers over the final nine holes. In total, he had six birdies, matching Garcia’s number from yesterday morning and demonstrating that there are moves to be made for players within five or six shots of the lead. Bo Van Pelt was another American who got out early and fired a round of 68 to jump almost 20 spots up the leaderboard before heading out of town. Along with Dufner and Van Pelt, here are some of the other early morning rounds under par out on the course:

With four holes to play in the 2012 British Open, Adam Scott appeared to be on the way to winning his first major championship. He was leading by four strokes, and only an all-time collapse would have prevented him from hoisting the Claret Jug. Unfortunately for Scott, four bogeys on his final four holes led to that collapse. But now he’s once again in contention on Sunday at the Open Championship, and a lot has changed in a year.

Scott’s collapse in 2012 at Royal Lytham could have been a career-defining result. Ernie Els played well down the stretch to win The Open, but Scott gave it away -- including a missed three-foot putt on the 16th and an eight-footer on No. 18 that could have forced a playoff. Scott’s nerves got the best of him as he unraveled down the stretch, but he’s a different player heading into Sunday’s final round.

Tiger Woods may have ushered in the era of Boom Baby in golf, but he’s playing small ball at this week’s British Open. Now he has to do something he’s never done if he’s to end his five-year majorless drought: come from behind in the finale.

The strategy he outlined earlier in the week has kept the world No. 1 in the hunt at Muirfield, Woods’ conservative play on Saturday cost him a spot in Sunday’s final group and, perhaps, that elusive 15th major title. It took Woods 39 holes to hit his first drive of the week -- a blast that split the fifth fairway -- which is something he joked about on Friday.