Stenson seeks to complete Middle East treble

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, the world number eight, aims to complete his set of Middle East titles with a victory in next month’s Abu Dhabi Championship – the only one to elude him.

Stenson has a home in the United Arab Emirates and will face a strong field for the event which gets underway on January 21st 2010. Among Stenson’s rivals for the title will be European number one, Lee Westwood; two-time Abu Dhabi winner Paul Casey and current injury victim, Sergio Garcia of Spain who is hoping to shrug off a strained wrist.

Also taking part will be young Irishman Rory McIlroy, Camilo Villegas of Columbia and Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy, a former winner of the US Open.

The Abu Dhabi Championship represents the first event on the European Tour’s Middle East section, with further events including the Qatar Masters between January 28th-31st and the Dubai Desert Classic from February 4th-7th inclusive.

Stenson has twice finished runner-up in the Abu Dhabi event in 2006 and 2008, and has won in Qatar (2006) and Dubai (2007). A win in Abu Dhabi will give the Swede a nap-hand of titles from the Middle East phase of the Tour.

“It would be great to be the first golfer to complete the Middle East treble,” Stenson told the European Tour’s official website (www.europeantour.com) on Wednesday.

Stenson will also form part of the European team for the Royal Trophy, which also includes Robert Karlsson, Simon Dyson and Soren Kjeldsen. The Royal Trophy will be played in Thailand over Bangkok’s Amata Spring Country Club from January 8th-10th inclusive.

Stenson adds strength to Vivendi Trophy teams

In a news release issued by tournament officials, it was declared that twelve of the world ranking’s top fifty players will feature in next week’s Seve Trophy – also known as the Vivendi Trophy – match between teams from Great Britain and Ireland and Continental Europe.

Henrik Stenson, currently fifth in the world rankings making him the highest ranked player to appear, spearheads captain Thomas Bjorn’s Europe side at the St-Nom-la-Breteche course in Versailles, France from September 24 to 27.

Stenson will be joined in the team by fellow Swedes Robert Karlsson and Peter Hanson alongside Danish trio Anders Hansen, Soren Hansen and Soren Kjeldsen. Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alvaro Quiros, and Italy’s Francesco Molinari make up the European lineup.

The Great Britain and Ireland team – to be captained by Paul McGinley – contains a host of Englishmen with Nick Dougherty, Simon Dyson, Ross Fisher, Robert Rock, Anthony Wall, Steve Webster, Oliver Wilson and Chris Wood all making the line-up. They will be joined by Northern Ireland duo Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

“I am going to be captaining some of the most exciting talent in world golf at the moment and that is a challenge in itself,” said McGinley.

The format for the four-day competition mirrors that of the format used in the Ryder Cup with five fourballs on both Thursday and Friday, four greensomes on Saturday morning, four foursomes on Saturday afternoon before the tournament closes with 10 singles matches on Sunday and the tournament will likely give some players invaluable matchplay experience in a team-based environment, which they can take forward to the Ryder Cup at The Celtic Manor Resort, Wales next year should they make Colin Mongomerie’s twelve man team to take on the United States.

Stenson Finds His Stride at Sawgrass

On Sunday, Swedish golfer Henrik Stenson shot perhaps the best round of his life to become only the third European to win golf’s unofficial fifth ‘Major’ – the TPC Sawgrass – with a closing 66.

That gave the amicable Swede a four shot victory over Englishman Ian Poulter; while overnight leader, German player Alex Cejka faltered – not for the first time – and tamely dropped away. However, up until his victory on Sunday, Stenson was perhaps better known for an entirely different incident!

In this year’s Doral Open, Stenson famously stripped down to his underwear and waded into a water hazard in order to play a recovery from a muddy lie, after a wayward tee shot on the third hole, before getting dressed again beside the fairway enroute to a 69. But while people may be talking about Stenson for that incident for a long time to come, his closing round on Sunday will at least bring some brief respite for the Swede.

Stenson, who had birdie putts on all but two holes during his final round achieved the biggest win of his career as he overhauled Cekja’s five-shot final round lead by playing a consummate round of golf; driving straight and true and displaying a strong short-game saw him scoring birdies on the seventh and nine holes before making another four birdies on the back-nine for a blemish-free scorecard.

However, while Stenson was arrow-like off the tee during the final 18 – he missed only one fairway – his problems with the driver has been well documented, and in 2001 he stormed out of the European Open due to his waywardness from the tee. The final straw came when he took three attempts to put his ball in play, and after only nine holes, walked off telling his playing partners they’d be better off without him.

Sessions with sports psychologist Dr Bob Rotella have since helped Stenson iron out the kinks in his game and helped him to achieve several solid performances since. His TPC win was his tenth career success, but only his first ever strokeplay win on the US PGA tour.

Cejka, meanwhile had started the day with a seemingly unassailable five-shot cushion over his nearest challengers, although the German folded dramatically under the pressure of playing in the final group alongside Tiger Woods; reaching the turn in 42, while the expected Woods cavalry charge failed to materialse and the World number one could only muster a 73, which saw him finish in tenth place – his highest TPC finish since he won the tournament in 2001.

It was left then to Ian Poulter – who himself now has competition in the fashion stakes from a reborn John Daly – to mount a challenge to Stenson and the Hertfordshire player tried gallantly to peg the Swede back, dropping only a single shot and collecting three birdies for a solid round of 70 to finish in second place.

Stenson, who has a large proportion of his savings tied up in the Stanford Financial Group, who are under investigation for alleged fraud, picked up a winner’s cheque for $1.71 million, making the prospect of any potential losses from the investigation a little sweeter to bear. Stenson also won the Accenture Match Play Championship two years previously and now finds himself ranked number five in the world; a spot he previously held following his Accenture win.

(Thumbnail image by Getty Images via Daylife

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