Henrik Stenson (1 Open, 4 Ryder Cup's.)

1976

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Henrik Olof Stenson^[1] (born 5 April 1976) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays both on the PGA and European Tours.

He is the first male Swedish major champion, having won the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon with a major championship record score of 264. A two-time European Tour Golfer of the Year (2013 and 2016), he has spent over 250 weeks ranked in the World top ten^[2] and his career high ranking of second is the best by any male Swedish golfer. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Stenson won the silver medal finishing two strokes behind gold medalist Justin Rose. Had he won, Stenson would have claimed victories on all six continents on which golf is played, a feat Rose accomplished with the Olympic win, joining Hall of Fame members Gary Player, David Graham, Hale Irwin and Bernhard Langer.

In 2013, Stenson won the U.S. PGA Tour's FedEx Cup and the European Tour's Race to Dubai, thus becoming the first player to win both, and to do so in the same season,^[3][4] a "historic double".^[5][6] Stenson described his feat as a "double-double" because in the process of winning these two seasonal points crowns, he also won the season finales of both tours.^[7]

Stenson was born in Gothenburg. He played his first round of golf at age 12. A natural left-hander, Stenson learned to play golf right-handed.^[8][9][10] He was a 5 handicap by age 15 and, in his teen years during the early 1990s, began playing in junior and amateur tournaments. He played for the Swedish boys team in 1994.^[11]

Stenson turned professional in 1999 and the following year topped the money rankings on the second tier golf tour in Europe, the Challenge Tour. He joined the main European Tour in 2001, and that year, he won the Benson & Hedges International Open for his first European Tour victory. From 2005 to 2008 he finished each year in the top 10 of the European Order of Merit.

Stenson reached the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking in 2006 and the top 10 in 2007.^[12] Later in February, Stenson then became the first Swede to win one of the World Golf Championships when he beat Geoff Ogilvy 2&1 in the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. This victory took Stenson to the top of the European Order of Merit and also to a high of fifth in the world rankings, which was also the highest a male Swedish player had ever been ranked, surpassing Jesper Parnevik's previous record of reaching seventh place in May 2000.^[13] In all, he spent over 90 weeks in the top 10 of the rankings since 2007.^[14][15] These two victories put Stenson in the lead of the 2007 European Tour Order of Merit, but he failed to add to his success over the rest of the season and finished in fourth place.

Stenson made his Ryder Cup debut in 2006, and after getting a half-point in the foursomes against Stewart Cink and David Toms on the Friday, he holed the winning putt and ensured that Europe won the Ryder Cup for a third consecutive time when he beat Vaughn Taylor 4 & 3 in the Sunday singles. He played again in 2008 at Valhalla, tallying a win, a loss and a draw in the foursomes. However he was not as fortunate as two years before, losing the singles on Sunday 3 & 2 to Kenny Perry.

In March 2009 Stenson created a storm in the media after stripping to his underwear and golf glove in order to play a recovery shot from a muddy water hazard at the first round of the WGC-CA Championship.^[16] On 10 May 2009, Stenson won The Players Championship with a dominating final round score of 66 to finish four ahead of Ian Poulter. The win was his first American stroke play victory. This win again brought him to fifth in the Official World Golf Ranking.^[17] The following week he moved up to fourth without playing. Stenson faltered after reaching a career OWGR high. He struggled during most of the 2011 season, when he made 9 of 15 cuts but had no top-10 finishes. His world ranking fell to 230 at the beginning of 2012.

On 5 April 2012, Stenson led during the first round of the Masters Tournament with two eagles on the front nine to lead at 6-under-par until the 18th hole. He scored a quadruple-bogey on the par-4 18th hole, tying the Masters' record for the highest score ever on that hole.^[18]

In 2013, a resurgent Stenson had a watershed season, scoring a number of victories and high-place finishes while cementing a reputation as one of golf's best ball-strikers.^[19][20][21] In the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield, Stenson finished as the runner-up, three strokes behind Phil Mickelson, with a total of 284 (E) for the tournament. He shot a final round of 70 and held the lead for brief moments during the round, but was beaten by Mickelson's four birdie finish. This was Stenson's best performance in a major championship, bettering his two previous T3 finishes at the same championship. Stenson moved back inside the world's top 20 with this result. Stenson finished runner-up again the following month at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational behind Tiger Woods. He moved up to 11th in the world rankings after that result.

In the year's next major championship, the 2013 PGA Championship, Stenson contended again on Sunday, teeing off in the penultimate group two strokes behind the leader Jim Furyk. Despite an eagle on the par-5 fourth hole that moved him to within one stroke of the leaders, Stenson was never quite able to build any momentum in an even-par round that included four bogeys. He finished alone in third place, three strokes behind the champion Jason Dufner. Stenson moved up one place in the world rankings to move back inside the world's top ten.

Stenson's good form continued into the 2013 FedEx Cup Playoffs, when he won the Deutsche Bank Championship by two strokes over runner-up, Steve Stricker. It was the Swede's first PGA Tour victory in over three years. He tied the tournament record of −22 en route to his third career PGA Tour win.^[22] The win vaulted him into first place in the FedEx Cup standings just ahead of Tiger Woods.

On 22 September 2013, Stenson won The Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club and the FedEx Cup.^[23] He also tied his career best OWGR ranking of 4th.

He then moved up to a career best 3rd in the OWGR ranking on 3 November 2013.^[24] He finished the 2013 season ranked first on the PGA Tour in greens in regulation, first in ball striking, second among money leaders, third in total driving, fourth in scoring average, and seventh in driving accuracy percentage.^[25]

On 17 November 2013, he won the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai with a record-breaking performance (an aggregate 263 score at 25-under par), thereby also winning the Race to Dubai which he was already leading. Having already won the FedEx Cup Series in September, he thus became the first player to win the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour and the European Tour's Race to Dubai, and to do so in the same season,^[3][4] a "historic double".^[5][6] Stenson described his feat as a "double-double" because in the process of winning these two seasonal points crowns, he also won the season finales of both tours (the Tour Championship and the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai).^[7] He was later named European Tour Golfer of the Year.^[26]

In May 2014, Stenson reached a career high ranking of number two in the world, trailing only Adam Scott. On the PGA Tour, Stenson achieved career-best finishes at the Masters (T14) and U.S. Open (T4) while tying a career-best finish at the PGA Championship (T3). In Europe he won for the second time the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai and recorded 2nd places at the Volvo World Match Play Championship and BMW International Open, en route to a final 2nd place in the Race to Dubai, behind the winner Rory McIlroy.

In 2015, Stenson did not win any professional tournaments but made the cut in all 16 PGA Tour events he entered. He scored four runner-up finishes, including three over the final month of the season.^[27] He finished as the overall runner-up for the FedEx Cup.

On the European Tour he registered a runner-up finish at the BMW International Open, just as he did in 2014.

At the 2016 U.S. Open, on Saturday morning Stenson failed to show up at Oakmont to complete his second round, where he was going to miss the cut. The USGA said Stenson did not give a reason for his withdrawal, but he later confirmed on Twitter that he had "minor neck and knee issues".^[28]

A week later, he became the fourth two-time winner of the BMW International Open and the first to win the event at two different locations (at the Golfclub München Eichenried in 2006; at the Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof in 2016). The 2016 win at the tournament marked his 10th career win on the European Tour.

Stenson won the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon for his first major title. He held the 54-hole lead going into the final round with a margin of one stroke over Phil Mickelson. The pair played together during the third round and finished it by being six and five shots ahead of the field respectively, setting up a final head-to-head duel on Sunday. Stenson shot a 63 in the final round to tie Johnny Miller for the best ever final round of a major winner. His overall score of 264 set a record for the lowest score in any major championship. Stenson finished three shots ahead of Mickelson and 14 shots ahead of third-place finisher J. B. Holmes. Stenson became the first male Swede to win a major.^[29]

In August, Stenson represented Sweden at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he won the silver medal; entering the final hole of the competition he was level with the eventual winner Justin Rose, but bogeyed the last hole while Rose made his birdie putt to win by two strokes.^[30]

Stenson won an automatic selection for the 2016 Ryder Cup at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota. In the competition he earned 2 points for Europe in 5 matches, winning the Friday fourball with Justin Rose by 5 and 4 against Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, and his single match against Spieth by 3 and 2.

In November 2016, Stenson won the Race to Dubai for a second time.^[31] Stenson led the European Tour in scoring average (69.14) for the first time in his career in 2016,^[32] which he has declared his best overall year to date.^[33] In December, Stenson was named European Tour Golfer of the Year for the second time in his career.^[34]

Stenson married fellow Swede Emma Löfgren in Dubai ten years after meeting her at the University of South Carolina.^[35][36] In July 2007, his wife gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter named Lisa.^[37] In 2010, the couple had their second child, a son named Karl. They live in Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida. In 2014, Stenson announced that he had invested in PGA Sweden National, his first venture in golf course ownership.^[38]