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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