‘After the Open, I know nothing is beyond me’
Henrik Stenson should have known Augusta was not his sort of place from the very first visit. He turned up as a spectator in 1999, strongly fancied José María Olazábal to don his second Green Jacket, and then slept through the alarm he had set to ring his mother in Sweden to put his bet on in time.
Yes, Olazábal won. At 50-1.50 1. That would have been a lot of money – in pounds, euros, dollars or krona – for a first-year professional with dreams bigger than his wallet. Stenson tenson was in Georgia that week k only because his future wife, Emma mma Lofgren, was in college in the neighbouring state te of South Carolina, and he managed “to cadge a ticket”.
“I loved it from the moment I saw it,” Stenson recalled. ecalled. “The problem is, I’m not ot sure it loved me.” Certainly, the e 41-year-old’s record suggests an n unrequited love. In 12 appearances, ances, his best finish is a tie for 14th. 4th. “Not good is it?” Stenson said. “It doesn’t even obey the law of averages.”verages.”
No, but Augustaa National has its own laws, and not t just the fact fans must be called “patrons”,atrons”, there are no mobile phones s on the grounds, and no running. There are some players it just does s not suit, regardless of theirr standing. The great Tony Jacklin n never finished better than 12th while, in 15 attempts, Colin Montgomerie, the Scot who racked up no fewer than seven top fives in the other three majors, managed just one Masters top 10 – eighth in 1998. It makes no sense, but to Stensonson it does.
“I know why I have not done well there yet, but t I don’t want to go into too much detail as I don’t want to bore you or your readers,” he said. “The biggest gest factor has been that I’ve never ver really arrived here with my A gameame and simply have not been playing ying well enough to win. But even then, hen, maybe I would have backed into a top 10 or something. The problem for me is that I’m a good driver, and with its wide fairways I don’t get the advantage I would on other courses. And there’s no sort of in-between shots, and I guess they’re something I play a lot of. “Something that would have been a decent 20ft birdie putt on a regular week tends to take a little reach and end up far away from the pin. You either hit a good shot or a great shot, and get a really good chance for birdie. Otherwise, you end up with a poor shot. But yeah, it’s a combinationcomb of things. And any other thoughtsth would be greatly appreciated.”appreciat In truth, StensonS has more than enoughenou brains in his corner workingw it out. There is Pete Cowen, the now legendaryleg coach from Yorkshire,Y who has twice pieced the Swede back togethert from seeminglyseem irreparable plummetsplum in the rankings,ranki and there is Gareth Lord,L the caddie from CoventryCoventr who has helped develop so muchmuc control to the devastating armouryar in his employer’s bag.ba There is alsoal Phil Kenyon, the putting gurug from Southport whow has ironed out the short-gameshort-ga weakness. Together theyth have developed a plan for lucky 13. “My strategystra will be to play more aggressively,a shoot more for theth pins, and try to make those great shots,” Stenson suggested.sugg “I feel like I’ve played tooto defensively in the past, becausebecau if you’re looking at the winners,w they make about 20 birdies in the week. So there’sthere’ no point going out there to try to make 14 birdies and no bogeys, because that’s still going to come upu short. “And no, I don’tdo just want to finish fifth to makema my record better around Augusta.A I actually think I’ve got the game for this course and I’ve justj got to think back to the Open.Ope After that, I should know nothingno has to be beyond me.” Royal Troon was the validation his career demanded, not merely in the lifting of the Claret Jug but in the manner of its securing. In 2013, Stenson had amazed the accountants by first securing the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup, with its £8.96 million bounty, and then the next month, the European Tour’s Race to Dubai, with its £2.2 million reward. He was the master of both circuits and a veritable hero in the bank after recovering the fortune he lost in the Allen Stanford scandal. Alas, the purists were still not purring. Until, last July, that is, when they got their cream.
Stenson’s final-round 63 to beat an inspired Phil Mickelson was the round of this century thus far and rivalled any which came before. In his own mind, Stenson became a different golfer. “It’s the inner confidence that brings, it’s hard to explain,” he said. “I will always know I can do it, not just win a major, which, of course, is huge and clearly so hard to do, but win one like that.
“Of course, it probably will never happen again to me like that, but that doesn’t matter, as I know it’s within. Mentally and physically, I was so attuned, and that is rare.
‘I will play more aggressively; I have been defensive in the past. I actually think I have the game for this course’
‘If there is even a one per cent chance I can win, I keep going’
What my mind said to do, my body and swing obliged and my mind did not flinch. I never doubted I would win. The point is, I probably will not have to play as well as that to win another major if I put my myself into the position. It changed everything, really.”
Well, not exactly everything. There was no competitive hangover, as there has been with Danny Willett since his Georgia triumph 12 months ago. Stenson finished seventh in the US PGA two weeks later, then second in the Olympics. And there have been four more runner-up placings since.
What did Stenson have that Willett did not? “Experience, I was more prepared,” Stenson said. “Not with my age, but with dealing with the situation. In 2013, when I won the order of merit on both Tours it was a big thing, I was challenging for world No 1 and everybody wanted a piece of me. I can see you now, rolling your eyes, thinking, ‘The poor thing had to do more with the sponsors, media and fans’.
“But a professional golfer’s week in a tournament is all about routines and what best works for them to give them the possible chance to win. And all of a sudden you are out of that routine because of people wanting interviews or selfies or what have you.
“It’s very fine margins. It saps the energy, both physically and emotionally, so that when you’re on the first tee on Thursday you’re not where you should be. It takes time to adjust and I had that learning experience in 2013. Danny had not, but he’ll be fine.”
As will Stenson, whatever happens in the remaining years of his career. It is hard to think of a more popular character on the Tours who, apart from the occasional dismantling of a tee-box marker with a five-iron, seems so happy in his own skin and life, with his wife of 10 years and their three children, Lisa, Karl and Alice. But behind the wacky persona, there is an ambition which still burns.
“The way I look at it, I’ve had my slumps and the one in 2011 to 2012 everybody said I’d never come back from – but I did,” he said. “So I’m only listening to my body and it tells me that, despite a couple of knee operations, I’m still healthy.
“People always say, you’re surrounded by kids in the world rankings. Well, yes, and maybe that keeps me young, the challenge to keep up with them. When the best I think I can do is finish 30th, I’ll be out of here, but if there’s even a one per cent chance I can win that will me keep going so long as the body is willing. I’d hope that I could be an Open champion and a Masters champion, as I think they’re a good fit. And that’s not impossible. Not totally, anyway.”