British Open Leaderboard 2013: Expert Reaction to Day 4 Results

Phil Mickelson is a major champion for the fifth time.

Lefty won The Open Championship on Sunday with a fantastic fourth-round performance. Mickelson was nearly perfect the entire day, as he shot a five-under 66. He entered the day at two over and five shots back of the lead. But that didn’t stop him from giving it his all and putting pressure on the other contenders.

The official Twitter account for the championship announced Phil as the winner with this great picture of him holding his prize:

Mickelson called the victory “the most fulfilling moment of my career,” according to the official Twitter account for Bleacher Report:

While that’s what the champion thought of the win, here’s a look at what some of the golf experts around the world are saying about Phil’s victory at The Open Championship and how the fourth round at Muirfield played out:

Kelly Tilghman of The Golf Channel thinks that Mickelson’s performance on Sunday is more than just one of the top rounds of the week:

Shane Bacon of CBS Sports also thinks it’s impressive that Lefty has shaped his game to play links golf:

Bob Harig of ESPN agrees with Bacon:

Jason Sobel of The Golf Channel feels Mickelson may be a top-10 all-time golfer now:

This is just a hunch, but Tiger Woods is probably in Sobel’s top 10 as well. Woods, however, didn’t have the best final round despite entering Sunday just two shots back of Lee Westwood for the championship lead. He shot three over on the day to finish two over for the tournament and in a tie for sixth place.

Bacon of CBS Sports notes that no one is talking about Tiger, who was seeking the 15th major victory of his career, and how that speaks to how great of a tournament The Open Championship was and how worthy of winning Mickelson is:

Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press shows how close Tiger and Phil are in terms of major victories over the last two years:

Skip Bayless of ESPN thinks that Tiger’s confidence at majors isn’t very good:

Bayless might not be very far off with that statement, either. Woods has been stuck on 14 major victories since winning the 2008 U.S. Open. Since, he has nine finishes in the top 10 but no wins. Tiger is still one of the most dominant golfers in the sport, but the major title drought isn’t getting any shorter.

Speaking of major title droughts, Westwood’s is quite long as well. That’s probably because he’s never won one and turned professional back in 1993. He has 16 top-10 finishes but has never been able to finish on Sunday with his name atop the leaderboard. He missed a great chance to win his first major on Day 4 at Muirfield.

Westwood had a two-shot lead entering the final round but really played poorly. He had a ton of trouble with his accuracy off the tee, and that cost him a few shots. Westwood bogeyed five holes and birdied just two for a fourth-round 75. His four-over performance on Sunday put him at one over for the tournament and in third place.

The official Twitter account for the championship said it wasn’t Westwood’s day:

While it wasn’t Westwood’s day, it certainly was Mickelson’s. The 43-year-old continues to cement himself as one of the greatest golfers of all time. Lefty’s performance on Sunday showed that he’s still a force to be reckoned with and that he’s someone who should be considered a contender at every event.