Last Sunday turned out to be a career-defining moment for Henrik Stenson, one of a handful of top-notch golf professionals who belong to both the European and the American PGA Tours. For Swenson, who has always had a reputation as a top-notch ball striker with a less than stellar short game and putting stroke, it was a magical week that saw the 40-year-old Swede win his first grand slam championship.
Through 11 holes on Sunday, Swenson and five-time major winner Phil Mickelson were locked in a two-way battle for the Claret Jug at Scotland’s Troon Golf Club during final-round play in the 145th Open Championship. It was shades of the Tom Watson-Jack Nicklaus 1977 Duel in the Sun at Turnberry. Stenson and Mickelson found themselves at 16-under-par, more than 10 strokes ahead of their closest pursuers. Stenson had just made a three-putt bogey at 11 and it appeared as if Philly Mick just might come up with a stretch run to win his second Open title and sixth major championship. After all, that was the scenario that played out at Muirfield in 2013 when Mickelson took home the Claret Jug with a final-nine burst to defeat Stenson by three strokes.
Instead, Henrik relied upon precision ball striking to run off four birdies over the final five holes to win his first major and defeat Phil by three strokes. Stenson carded a 63 to become only the second golfer in majors history to shoot that number and win during final-round play, matching Johnny Miller’s feat at the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont. His aggregate score of 20-under-par 264 also set major championship history. For Mickelson, who played great golf all week long and simply ran into a juggernaut, it was the 11th time in his career that he has finished as a runner-up in a grand slam event. In golf, you just can’t play defense, and there was no stopping Henrik Stenson this time around.
Going into the Open Championship, Stenson was the world’s sixth-ranked golfer. His PGA Tour stats had him ranked second in iron play, third in greens in regulation, and 11th in driving accuracy while averaging 292 yards off the tee. He was at the other end of the spectrum when it came to his short game. In the scrambling department, he was 163rd. He was 148th in putting and ranked 174th in strokes around the green. However, at the British Open he was first in greens hit and fourth in putting. Over the final 30 holes he had just 41 putts. On Sunday, Henrik three-putted the first and 11th holes, so that means that he had just 35 putts on the other 28 holes, penciling out to 21 one-putts when the Open was on the line.
A natural lefty who swings right-handed (just like Miller), Stenson didn’t turn pro until he was 23 years old. He worked his way onto the European Tour after gaining experience on its Challenge Tour where he won three times. It took him just one year to win on the Euro Tour, and he has continued to grow and improve. In 2007 he started playing on the American Tour. During the past 12 years he has won 11 times in Europe, five times in America, once in Asia, and once on the Sunshine Tour (South Africa).
Henrik has also showed a knack for coming up big in tourneys of note. He won the World Match Play in 2007, the Players Championship in 2009, recovered from health issues and had comeback wins at the Deutsche Bank and the Tour Championship in 2013. He won the Euro Tour Finals at Dubai in both 2013 and 2014. He has represented Europe on victorious Ryder Cup teams in 2006, 2008 and 2014. He will definitely be on the European team when the Ryder Cup plays out at Hazeltine this September.
While Stenson has a Fed Ex Cup and a Euro Tour Golfer of the Year award to his credit, his short game limitations seldom put him on lists as a favorite at the majors. Yet his quality ball striking and rock-solid putting last week was just what he needed to garner the first major championship of his career. And while he has jet-setted around the world for the past 10 years, he has to be considered a young 40-year-old in the world of professional golf. Hard to believe, but he’s the same age as Tiger Woods.
So, good for Henrik Stenson. Although he and his wife and kids now live full time in Florida, his win Sunday makes him a national hero in Sweden, the home country of Annika Sorenstam. He’ll no longer be the guy who dressed down to his underwear some years back to hit a shot from the water. Instead, he’s the record-setting champion golfer of the year.
Normally the summer majors are scheduled one month apart, but this time around in a concession to Olympic golf, the PGA Championship has been moved up from mid-August to the end of July. The PGA starts this coming Thursday at Baltusrol Country Club in New Jersey. They played the PGA at Baltusrol some 11 years ago and it just so happened that Phil Mickelson was the winner, taking home his second of five major titles. Maybe Phil has just enough left in the tank to prevail next week at a place that he has had great success. Maybe Henrik’s putting stroke will stay with him for another week and he’ll be able to pull off two grand slam titles in the course of three weeks. However it plays out, it will be unique to have major championships played in such a short amount of time. For someone like Jason Day, his schedule has him rushing from Scotland to Canada to defend his title in this week’s Canadian Open, and then heading immediately to New Jersey to defend his PGA Championship. With this new version of the Olympic golf schedule, it will be a lot easier said than done for Day to be competitive next week, regardless of his talent and skill level.
Many pundits assumed that the major championship season would be all about golf’s new breed of 20-somethings. We were anticipating a year of great golf at the majors for Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlory and Jason Day. Instead, with three out of four majors won by first-time winners, including Danny Willett at the Masters, Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open and now Stenson at the Open, it hasn’t been the year of great expectations for the Big Three as well as other new breed members such as Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed and the rest. Next week will be the last chance in 2016 for golf’s latest generation of stars to add to their legacy. Or it could be a magic moment for someone who is just outside the glaring spotlights of the Big Three. We’ll know a whole lot more next Sunday.
