British Open 2013 Leaderboard: Final Results and Analysis from Muirfield

Phil Mickelson won the fifth major championship of his career on Sunday after a masterful performance at The Open Championship at Muirfield.

Bleacher Report’s official Twitter account announced Mickelson as the champion while showing him after he sunk a birdie on the 18th hole to close out his round:

Here’s a look at The Open Championship final leaderboard:

Now, let's take a closer look at the star of the show, a surprise player and the dud of the day from Muirfield.

Star of the Day: Phil Mickelson

Phil was on fire on Sunday and nothing was going to stop him from surging toward the top of the leaderboard. Mickelson was good for the first three days of this tournament but was still five shots off the lead entering the final round. With the way Muirfield was playing, though, anything was possible.

Mickelson played the front nine of the course perfectly on Sunday afternoon. He didn’t drop a shot and actually picked up two. He had a minor hiccup on the 10th, which turned out to be the lone bogey on his scorecard for the day. Down the stretch on the back nine, Lefty was absolutely incredible.

On the final six holes, Mickelson birdied four of them to take a commanding lead. His fourth-round 66 was remarkable and was more than just a good round at a major championship. Lefty played better than anyone could’ve expected, and his performance on Sunday was easily one of the best of his entire career.

Surprise of the Day: Ian Poulter

Ian Poulter wasn’t close to the top of the leaderboard entering the final round at Muirfield—eight shots off the lead—but that didn’t discourage him. The Englishman caught fire in the fourth round and ended up tying the guy who started the day with the No. 1 spot and the latest tee time.

A bogey on the third hole wasn't the kind of start Poulter was likely hoping for. He didn’t let that get to him, though, as he birdied the fifth to get back to even par on the day. After three pars, Poulter went absolutely off. From the ninth hole through the 12th, he shot five under—carding an eagle on No. 9 and birdieing the next three.

Poulter, who had finished in the top 10 of The Open Championship twice coming into this week, ended his day at four under and one over for the championship. That four-hole stretch was one of the best we saw all week long, and it was essential to him jumping from No. 19 on the leaderboard to No. 3.

Dud of the Day: Lee Westwood

Westwood entered Sunday as the guy with the target on his back. There was a lot of pressure on him to succeed—albeit a two-stroke lead isn’t very much when playing at one of the toughest courses in the world—and he crumbled. He looked nothing like the guy who was three under entering the final round.

The former top-ranked golfer in the world started his day off poorly, bogeying the third hole—which he also did in the third round. He got back to even par with a birdie on the fifth hole, but couldn’t keep up the good work as he bogeyed two of the final three holes on the front nine.

Westwood struggled on the back nine as well. He didn’t birdie any of the holes and bogeyed the 13th and 16th. He shot four over on the day to finish at one over for the championship. That was good for third place.

The 40-year-old had a good opportunity to win his first major, but couldn’t capitalize when it mattered most.