pp 50-51 Henrik Stenson 19/04/2011 14:29 Page 50 50 JUNE 2010 | www.nationalclubgolfer.com pp 50-51 Henrik Stenson 19/04/2011 14:29 Page 51 GolferNATIONAL CLUB MEETS... HENRIK STENSON The 2009 Players champion talks about tackling Sawgrass, dips in form, Ryder Cups and stripping down to his boxer shorts BY MARK TOWNSEND | PHOTOGRAPHY BY GETTY O BE honest I was a also holed the winning putt in the little bit wary of how Ryder Cup at the K Club. this conversation may The 35-year-old has spent over T go. A few days 100 weeks in the world’s top 10, previously the Swede had not only been as high as 4th, and has five missed the cut at the Masters but top 10s in the last 11 Majors. had finished plumb last after The past year or so might not rounds of 83 and 74 at Augusta. have been the best but the sense of However a forced chat couldn’t humour and perspective remain have been further from the truth. firmly in place. Stenson is en route to Sawgrass, The good times will surely roll scene of his greatest triumph two again and, in the meantime, life years ago, and fellow Swede Peter remains sweet for Stenson and his Hanson is at the wheel ahead of a young family. October to February practice round and is being teased is spent in Dubai before moving relentlessly. on to Florida and then enjoying a In many ways Stenson is the man couple of months with family and for the big occasion: he has not friends in Sweden. only won the Players He admits that the plan is to Championship and the WGC- follow the sun which partly Accenture Match Play but he has explains his sunny disposition. www.nationalclubgolfer.com | JUNE 2011 51 pp 53-54 Henrik Stenson 19/04/2011 14:30 Page 53 Good times Stenson has won the Ryder Cup and the Players Championship The way ahead With Karlsson at the 2008 Ryder Cup and winning the Fifth Major What do you make of Lee on the range before the final round and work out what the wind is FACTFILE Westwood and Rory McIlroy of the Players as I was not quite doing. You can’t see what clubs the Born: April 5 1976 not playing at Sawgrass and getting the strike. It wasn’t group ahead are hitting but you Wins: European Tour have the WGCs now overtaken something that I did all week but it can see if they are generally (6), PGA Tour (2) the Players in terms of obviously worked. coming up short or going long. Interesting fact: importance? I might bring it out again today Also it is kind of hard not to He also hosts a No, I don’t think so, I think the (in practice)! look at it, people say they don’t tournament on the only reason they aren’t playing is look at leaderboards but there Challenge Tour solely down to the membership What is your strategy for tends to be an enormous one every criteria and the scheduling. We playing the 17th? few holes which makes it quite have the rules in Europe and the game was solid. Then, on the last You have to be a bit careful with difficult to avoid seeing. rules in the States and everyone day in tough conditions, I shot six the pin down on the right-hand When I won I had a birdie putt has different approaches. under. Strategically I could hit a side because there is no room to on 16 from four feet and I saw Ian I was a member in 2007, then lot of 3-woods – there are a lot of miss that. Poulter hit his tee shot at 17 to didn’t take it up the next two years, bottlenecks if you hit driver, so I You aim a couple of metres left eight feet. but have now which works well for was coming in from some great and let the ball feed down to the He then missed and I made me and my family. positions. I think I hit maybe three hole. The back pins are also mine so I had a four-shot lead so or four drivers a round whether I difficult as you have to get up on there wasn’t as much drama. I still You have won a WGC and the am confident with it or not. to the second tier and, if the wind hit it well away from the pin. Players, do you rate one higher drops, it can easily take one than the other? When did you start using the bounce and disappear into the What have been the main Both are great to win and they pre-shot routine of swinging the water. They have changed the reasons behind your struggles in mean a lot but, if I had to rank club upside down? green a little bit but it is more or the past year or so? them, the Players would be bigger That was something I did when I less similar. Pretty much all of last year was a for me. won at the World Cup and struggle and this year hasn’t been Nedbank in 2009 – you know what How soon do you start thinking great so I’m in a bit of a dip and Why does it fit your eye so well? it’s like with little drills that you try about the tee shot? trying to work my way out of it. I I putted really solidly all week, I and then you change again to When you have played your was also ill for almost eight weeks think I made everything from something else. approach to the 16th most of us in total but was still trying to play inside six feet and the rest of my I actually picked that up again will look right to the 17th and try because I didn’t know what the www.nationalclubgolfer.com | JUNE 2011 53 pp 53-54 Henrik Stenson 19/04/2011 14:30 Page 54 problem was. I still played Akron, the top player for a while in Lee tournament round but is mainly PGA and Wyndham and I Westwood. One of his strengths in the build-up to an event. finished last. I was the one saving is that he was a good player Tiger at Akron. himself and can always You’ve been in contention in a So I had a long stretch of demonstrate how to do things, he few Majors, how different is problems there and that obviously really knows what works and the pressure on the final day? doesn’t help as well as playing doesn’t work. The Players win I’ve not gone into the final round poorly. I was as sick as a dog and Stenson actually began the of a Major with a lead but the played like a dog. If you are on different tours do final round five shots adrift of closest came at the PGA you speak much during Alex Cejka but then produced Championship in 2008. the only bogey-free round, a Have you turned to new people tournaments? We had thunder delays so we six-under 66 on a for new ideas? I don’t think he will call you up to played nine holes on the Sunday treacherous last day. No, I’ve been quite successful say you are getting it a little bit The Swede missed just morning and, although I was with the team I have and I low in the backswing if you have one fairway and finished four playing in the final group, I didn’t probably need to go back to some just shot 67 but, if you have shot clear of Ian Poulter (above0 have to sleep on it or wait half a of the principles I had in the past. 76, there is more chance of a call. who said afterwards: “I day to go out. I’m quite confident I will get back wasn’t expecting someone to I definitely felt like I was one to where I was. What about your work with the go out there and shoot 66.” of five guys who could win but sports psychologist Dr Bob Padraig Harrington was too good What makes Pete Cowen such Rotella? tournaments a lot more lately! for us. a good coach? We have been working together It depends how many players he Winning a Major means a lot He’s obviously got so much on and off since 2009 and, with has at a tournament but we would more than winning a normal experience and has worked with the drop in form, we have been mainly talk during the practice tournament so the nerves are so many top players, including talking and seeing each other at days and sometimes after a obviously very different. Playing it safe Stenson often opts for a 3- wood rather than driver off the tee 54 JUNE 2011 | www.nationalclubgolfer.com.