Henrik Stenson dedicated his victory at The 145th Open Championship to a recently departed friend as he became the first Swede to win a Major Championship at Royal Troon.
The 40 year old sported a black ribbon on his hat all week in honour of his friend Mike Gerbich who sadly lost his battle with cancer on Wednesday.
With his tribute on his hat and Gerbich in his thoughts, Stenson produced an astonishing, record-breaking performance as he finished with a 63 to overcome Phil Mickelson and set a new Major Championship record score of 264.
His 20 under total was also the lowest score to par in Open history and as he faced the world's media with the Claret Jug at his side moments after his dramatic triumph, Stenson dedicated the victory to his friend.
"He was one of the real good guys back in Dubai," he said. "I've known him for many, many years and he was a very keen golfer and a great man.
"He's been battling cancer for a long time but I had news on Tuesday that the end was near and unfortunately he passed away on Wednesday morning over in the US.
"So he's always been there as a big supporter of mine and in good days and bad days he's always sent me messages and been out at some events.
This one is dedicated to him, for sure. I felt like he was there with me this week - Henrik Stenson
The victory at Troon is the latest achievement in a brilliant career that has seen Stenson win the Race to Dubai, the FedEx Cup and hole the winning putt at the 2006 Ryder Cup.
After a winless 2015, he claimed victory at last month's BMW International Open and admits he always felt that this Open would be the one where he eventually claimed one of golf's big four.
"It's a dream come true as a young kid, well, not that young," he said. "I was 11 when I started playing.
It was Ryder Cup and The Open Championship, those were the big early memories I had. So to sit there and hold this trophy is really amazing - Henrik Stenson
"I felt like this was going to be my turn. It's not something you want to run around and shout but I felt like this was going to be my turn.
"I knew I was going to have to battle back if it wasn't but I think that was the extra self-belief that made me go all the way this week.
"The last 15, 18 months I had a lot of great opportunities to win a few of them. I didn't finish the job the way I wanted and on a few of them it was a couple of youngsters from America did some good stuff and denied me the wins, in particular in 2015.
"So the win in Germany at the BMW International Open a couple weeks ago was huge to get one over the finish line. You feel the pressure coming in and with not having won for a while, that always kind of builds up.
"It was great to get that win there. That definitely helped this week, and I felt that extra confidence was going to be huge for me coming into this week."
