ALL THE BUILD-UP TO THE RYDER CUP
HENRIK STENSON was blown away by the scale of Le Golf National’s first-tee grandstand – and he reckons the Ryder Cup will only get bigger.
The 2016 Open champ can’t wait tee up in Paris in his fifth appearance for Team Europe.
And in his typical offbeat style the Swede admits it has a different feel to his debut at the K Club 12 years ago when he holed the winning putt.
Stenson said: “Well, 2006 to 2018, there’s a few years in there. It might be at least another 20 years before we’ve got floating stands in the sky or something, I don’t know.
“But it’s certainly got bigger and bigger and the atmosphere on that first tee is phenomenal, so I’m really excited to see what that’s going to be like.
“Everyone is going to feel that first tee no matter how experienced they are. That’s normal for the Ryder Cup.
“And given the size and the set-up we have here this week it’s going to be something different, something special.
“So I expect everyone to feel a little bit of jelly in their legs walking down to their first tee.”
A chronic elbow injury wrecked the bulk of the 42-year-old’s summer, forcing a plummet down the rankings that left him relying on a captain’s pick to get in the team.
But the world No.24 insists the issue won’t affect him in Paris.
He said: “It has been dragging on a bit but I’ve thought for the most part I’ve been fit enough to play competitive golf.
“It’s been probably more a hindrance in the gym and not being able to do certain things and having to watch that a bit.
“But we hope it’s going to be completely gone in a while and we’re just managing it.
“It doesn’t really affect my golfing capabilities at this point so it’s just something we hope we can leave behind us shortly.”