Nicklaus hails Stenson and Mickelson showdown as "better" than the Duel in the Sun

As one half of golf’s greatest ever skirmish – the Duel in Sun with Tom Watson at Turnberry in 1977 – Nicklaus knows what it’s like to be involved in the furious cut and thrust and the Golden Bear believes Sunday’s showdown trumps the lot. They may just all have to get together and have a duel to see which duel really is the best at this rate. Three woods at 10 paces and all that.

"I was fortunate to watch every second of the final round of the Open Championship and I thought it was fantastic," said Nicklaus, the 18-time major winner who would lose out to Watson in that swashbuckling shoot-out almost 40 year ago. “Phil Mickelson played one of the best rounds I have ever seen played in the Open and Henrik Stenson just played better - he played one of the greatest rounds I have ever seen.

"Phil certainly has nothing to be ashamed of because he played wonderfully. But Henrik was simply terrific.

"To win your first major championship is something special in and of itself, but to do it in the fashion Henrik did it in makes for something very special and incredibly memorable. I'm proud of and happy for Henrik.

"Some in the media have already tried to compare the final round to 1977 at Turnberry. I thought we played great and had a wonderful match. On that day, Tom got me, 65-66. Our final round was really good, but theirs was even better."

It was high praise indeed at the end of a battle which was quite rare in major championship golf. Stenson is 40, Mickelson is 46. The last time the final group in one of the game's grand slam events consisted of two players over 40 was in the 1954 Masters, when Ben Hogan and Sam Snead fought it out for the Green Jacket at the age of 41.

Stenson has finally moved from perennial contender to champion and nobody would grudge him this sweetest of Swedish successes after a series of close calls in the major championships. This was a triumph that illustrated the attributes of resilience, dedication and unwavering belief.

Having bounded on to the main European Tour by winning three times on the second-tier Challenge Tour in 2000, Stenson won on his rookie season on the main circuit before slithering into the first of two career slumps, the second of which came just four years ago and saw him plummet to 230th in the world rankings. Throw in the personal anguish of losing millions of dollars in Allen Stanford’s financial scheme – Stanford is serving 110 years in prison for fraud – and you wouldn’t blame him for having a right good gulp of some celebratory beverage out of the Claret Jug.

"The second slump in my career was nothing compared to the one I had in the early 2000s," he reflected. “I managed to put my game together with a lot of hard work and a lot of help from my team and support from my family and friends and everyone else. If I didn't believe I wouldn't be sitting here. It's a dream come true. These were the big early memories I had a as a kid starting golf at 11. It was the Ryder Cup and the Open Championship. To hold this trophy is really amazing.”

Stenson tuned up for his Open campaign by competing in the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart the previous week. He has already stated that he is likely to repeat the routine in 2017, which is good news for Dundonald Links, the host of the Scottish event next year. “It would be kind of stupid not to keep that one going,” said Stenson, who shared third in the Scottish Open in 2013 and was edged out by Mickelson for the Claret Jug at Muirfield seven days later. The top four finishers at Royal Troon on Sunday, which also included JB Holmes and the 49-year-old Steven Stricker, all played in the Scottish Open the week before the Open. Indeed six of the top eight at Troon were at Castle Stuart. It is clearly a worthwhile exercise and those who have not cottoned on yet will probably be scribbling down an entry form as we speak.