Wacky stunt ends Henrik’s season
The game’s main tours seem set to come under pressure to regulate ‘‘wacky’’ pretournament photo stunts after Henrik Stenson suffered a season-ending rib injury while being suspended in the air posing as a superhero.
The Swede hinted on Monday that the promotion at the recent HSBC WGC Champions was the cause of the complaint which requires an MRI scan and has forced him to skip the final fortnight of the 2017 campaign.
And sources confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that not only was the Shanghai caper to blame, but that Stenson was annoyed about being persuaded to do it in the first place. It is understood that other high-profile golfers refused to participate in the escapade, which also featured world No 1 Dustin Johnson hanging from the ceiling in a harness.
Stenson actually managed to finish in a tie for second alongside Johnson behind Justin Rose in China, but felt the effects, which became worse at last week’s Turkish Open.
‘‘I was not 100 per cent last week, but I guess the travel and the way things progressed, it just got worse,’’ Stenson said after his disappointing tie for 35th in Antalya. ‘‘It’s not been good, and obviously I haven’t been able to do myself justice in terms of the golf.’’
When quizzed how he sustained the injury, Stenson remained vague but said: ‘‘I’m no superman even though certain people thought I was superman. If you saw the promotion in Shanghai, you know what I mean.’’
Stenson has withdrawn from this week’s Nedbank Challenge in Sun City, South Africa, as well as the DP World Tour Championship.
The world No 8 will especially be missed at the latter, where, as a former resident and a two-time champion, he is a crowd favourite.
The WGC event in China has become known for its ‘‘creative’’ publicity shots involving the most notable players, although it is no means alone on that score.
At last year’s Abu Dhabi Championship, Rory McIlroy revealed how close Jordan Spieth came to crashing into him when the pair were riding on customised Segway-style vehicles called Golfboards as part of a promotion.
There were raised eyebrows in the locker room on that occasion and Stenson’s plight has only added to the disquiet.
An insider told The Telegraph: ‘‘The players are always keen to help to promote events, but the stunts do seem to be getting wackier and the tours should probably put a limit on what the players are asked to do by the sponsors.’’