Henrik up for fight
HENRIK Stenson will argue the case with anyone who doubts he holed the winning putt in the 2006 Ryder Cup, but will be happy whoever has that honour in Paris as long as they are on his side.
Europe’s record-equalling victory at The K Club saw several matches finishing within seconds of each other, with some debate about whether Stenson’s win over Vaughn Taylor happened before or after Luke Donald’s victory against Chad Campbell.
“No, I holed the winning putt. There’s no debate,” Stenson insisted. “If there’s anyone with other information I’ll meet you behind the media centre later on and we’ll iron these things out!
“It was always going to be Europe (winning) at The K Club there on that Sunday afternoon so it didn’t matter, but I hope we can have a similar argument after this match here in Paris and we can argue who holed the winning putt on Sunday. I’ll be happy to give it away to someone who finished long before me.”
Stenson partnered Justin Rose to three wins from three matches at Gleneagles in 2014 but the pair were unable to repeat such success at Hazeltine two years later, although their only win was a 5-4 thrashing of America’s strongest pair of Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed.
“Oh that’s sweet,” Stenson joked when told how pleased Rose was that the man who he had beaten to Olympic gold in the Rio Olympics was given a wild card by Europe captain Thomas Bjorn. “I think it’s just about having that trust when you are playing with a good friend and someone you’ve been out and playing with a lot, you trust him and also the part of feeling no regrets when you do hit a bad shot and you do miss, because that will happen. It’s just how you move on from there, and not being too caught up in that part of it. Trust and chemistry are important in the team format and we all know that Justin and I got a good partnership.”
American Bubba Watson is struggling with illness and said a number of his team-mates were feeling off-colour and fatigued.
However, Stenson played down the impact that could make on the match.
“At this part of the season there has been a lot of golf played and a lot of players coming here straight from America playing a long FedEx Cup stretch. Some are going to be fatigued and a bit battered, but there are a lot of players who had to make the journey across myself included - and jet lag is something you have to fight as well.”
Today’s opening fourballs: 7.10am Justin Rose and Jon Rahm v Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau; 7.25am Rory McIlroy and Thorbjorn Olesen v Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler; 7.40am Paul Casey and Tyrell Hatton v Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas; 7.55am Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood v Patrick Reed and Tiger Woods