2013 British Open Winner and Scores

The 2013 British Open was the 142nd playing of the golf tournament. Phil Mickelson won it by tying the tournament's best score in the final round, a 66.

Winner: Phil Mickelson, 281

Where it was played: Muirfield in Gullane, Scotland

Dates: July 18-21, 2013

Leader after first round: Zach Johnson, 66

Leader after second round: Miguel Angel Jimenez, 139

Leader after third round: Lee Westwood, 210

What Happened at the 2013 Open Championship

Phil Mickelson won the 2013 British Open by three strokes, his first win in an Open Championship. Mickelson entered the tournament hot, coming off a victory at the previous week's Scottish Open. That was Mickelson's first-ever win on a links course; this British Open was his second.

Despite his good form, there was little in Mickelson's record at the Open to suggest he would win. He had only two Top 10s in the tournament in his career, against four missed cuts. One of those missed cuts was the previous year's championship. And Mickelson termed his relationship with links golf "hate-love," but most of the time it veered more toward hate.

Mickelson got off to a good start, opening with a 69, three strokes behind leader Zach Johnson. In the second round, Miguel Angel Jimenez took the lead at 139, with Mickelson at 143.

Mickelson shot 72 in the third round, but that was only good for ninth place, five strokes behind the lead of Lee Westwood. Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Hunter Mahan were among the golfers between Mickelson and first place.

But in the final round, among the golfers who started tied with or ahead of Mickelson, only Henrik Stenson, with a 70, managed to break par. No surprise that Stenson finished runner-up to Mickelson. (Three years later, Stenson won the 2016 Open with Mickelson as runner-up.)

Mickelson, however, carded a final-round 66, matching Johnson's first-round score for low round of the tournament. Third-round leader Westwood could manage only a 75, Scott 72, Johnson 72 and Woods 74.

When Mickelson birdied the 14th hole, he got within one stroke of Scott's lead. But Scott bogeyed shortly after, creating a 3-way tie at 1-under par between himself, Westwood and Mickelson.

Mickelson soon took the outright lead, though, as Scott and Westwood continued to drop shots. On the par-5 17th, Mickelson played two perfect 3-wood shots to reach the green in two, then 2-putted for birdie to reach 2-under.

And when Mickelson birdied again on the final hole of the tournament, he finished at 3-under 281. Although there were several more groups still on the course, nobody was close enough to have a reasonable chance of catching Mickelson. It was Mickelson's fifth career win in a major championship, and his 42nd official PGA Tour victory.

A couple of future multiple-major winners made their Open Championship debuts this year. Brooks Koepka missed the cut, but Jordan Spieth (whose major wins include the 2017 Open) tied for 44th. Another debut was by Matt Fitzpatrick, who tied Spieth at 44th and was low amateur. Fitzpatrick went on to win the 2022 U.S. Open.

2013 British Open Final Scores

Phil Mickelson	69-74-72-66—281
Henrik Stenson	70-70-74-70—284
Ian Poulter	72-71-75-67—285
Adam Scott	71-72-70-72—285
Lee Westwood	72-68-70-75—285
Zach Johnson	66-75-73-72—286
Hideki Matsuyama	71-73-72-70—286
Tiger Woods	69-71-72-74—286
Francesco Molinari	69-74-72-72—287
Hunter Mahan	72-72-68-75—287
Brandt Snedeker	68-79-69-72—288
Angel Cabrera	69-72-73-74—288
Justin Leonard	74-70-74-71—289
Miguel Angel Jimenez	68-71-77-73—289
Danny Willett	75-72-72-71—290
Charl Schwartzel	75-68-76-71—290
Eduardo De la Riva	73-73-75-69—290
Harris English	74-71-75-70—290
Matt Kuchar	74-73-72-71—290
Keegan Bradley	75-74-70-71—290
Rafael Cabrera-Bello	67-74-76-74—291
Richard Sterne	75-75-68-73—291
Stephen Gallacher	76-70-76-69—291
Darren Clarke	72-71-76-72—291
Sergio Garcia	75-73-68-75—291
Stewart Cink	72-75-76-69—292
Jonas Blixt	72-78-73-69—292
Jason Dufner	72-77-76-67—292
Paul Lawrie	81-69-70-72—292
Steven Tiley	72-75-73-72—292
Ernie Els	74-74-70-74—292
Jason Day	73-71-72-77—293
Jamie Donaldson	74-71-71-77—293
Y.E. Yang	78-70-73-72—293
Bubba Watson	70-73-77-73—293
Shane Lowry	74-74-75-70—293
Thongchai Jaidee	79-71-71-72—293
Oliver Fisher	70-78-77-68—293
Bud Cauley	74-75-71-73—293
Fred Couples	75-74-73-71—293
Martin Kaymer	72-74-72-75—293
Dustin Johnson	68-72-76-77—293
Ryan Moore	72-70-72-79—293
Shingo Katayama	73-77-69-75—294
Tim Clark	72-76-76-70—294
K.J. Choi	76-74-71-73—294
Mark Brown	77-73-72-72—294
a-Matthew Fitzpatrick	73-76-73-72—294
Martin Laird	70-71-81-72—294
Freddie Jacobson	72-75-75-72—294
Geoff Ogilvy	75-75-72-72—294
Bo Van Pelt	76-73-77-68—294
Jordan Spieth	69-74-76-75—294
Carl Pettersson	74-76-70-75—295
Padraig Harrington	73-75-77-70—295
Marcus Fraser	73-74-76-72—295
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano	70-79-73-73—295
Tom Lehman	68-77-75-76—296
Richie Ramsay	76-74-72-74—296
Mark O'Meara	67-78-77-74—296
Graeme McDowell	75-71-73-77—296
Boo Weekley	74-76-71-75—296
Johnson Wagner	73-72-73-78—296
Bernd Wiesberger	71-74-75-77—297
Webb Simpson	73-70-77-77—297
Chris Wood	75-75-75-72—297
Ken Duke	70-77-73-77—297
Branden Grace	74-71-77-75—297
Gregory Bourdy	76-70-74-77—297
Ben Curtis	74-71-80-72—297
George Coetzee	76-71-75-76—298
Gareth Wright	71-78-75-74—298
a-Jimmy Mullen	71-78-75-75—299
Thomas Bjorn	73-74-72-80—299
Todd Hamilton	69-81-70-79—299
Russell Henley	78-71-75-75—299
Shiv Kapur	68-77-83-71—299
Kyung-Tae Kim	73-76-77-73—299
Mikko Ilonen	72-78-76-74—300
Kevin Streelman	74-71-82-73—300
Peter Senior	74-76-73-77—300
Josh Teater	72-77-75-77—301
Graham DeLaet	76-72-76-79—303
Sandy Lyle	76-72-80-79—307

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