Phil Mickelson says his only chance to win The Open was to ‘bend’ Henrik Stenson’s putter

The only regret Phil Mickelson has about his epic shootout with Henrik Stenson at the British Open 10 days ago is that he could do nothing -- legal or otherwise -- to stop his playing competitor from sinking just about every putt he sized up on the Royal Troon greens.

“I don’t look back on the final round with anything that I would have done different, other than maybe go over to Stenson’s bag and bend his putter a little bit,” Mickelson said with a laugh during a Tuesday press conference ahead of this week’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol. “That’s probably the only thing I could have done and had a chance.”

Mickelson and Stenson engaged in what was essentially a match play contest for the ages in Sunday’s final round at The Open. With both golfers stuffing shots and sinking putts at a dizzying pace, the duo left the rest of the field in a chase for third place.

For sure, Mickelson did nothing to lose the tournament. It was just that Stenson was on a mission to claim his first major victory, which he accomplished by draining long birdie putts all day, especially those on the par-3 14th and par-4 15th holes. Two more birdies in his last three holes sealed the win for Stenson, who entered the finale with a one-stroke lead over Mickelson and went on to tie the major scoring record of 8-under 63 for the day and 20-under par for the week.

It was the monstrous stroke on the 15th green, though, that may have had Mickelson fantasizing about taking Stenson’s putter over his knee.

After such a virtuoso performance with the flat stick, to the tune of 27 putts and 10 birdies, it was only fitting that Stenson, who edged Mickelson by three shots, buried a 20-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole, the ball dropping on its final rotation.

That left Lefty, who carded a flawless 65, with his 11th runner-up finish in a major, and ruing what could have been.

“I’ll look back over time and my disappointment will probably increase, because I think it’s the first time in my career that I have played to that level of golf and not had it be enough to win a tournament,” the 2013 British Open champion said on Tuesday. “That’s a disappointing thing because I would have loved to have added another Claret Jug.”