His final round performance at the Open Championship last year was perhaps the most impressive ever in a major.
At age 40, Henrik Stenson’s 63 on Sunday at Royal Troon was arguably the best of the 63s shot in a major, and yes, that includes yours, Johnny Miller.
When you look back and consider his performance against Phil Mickelson, Stenson showed the world that at age 40, there may still be a lot of gas left in his championship tank.
The Champion Golfer Of The Year didn’t waste any time on Thursday in Abu Dhabi at the HSBC Championship. Stenson went out with two of the other major champions from last year and made them look like they weren’t even there at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
All Stenson did was put together a perfect round to start his 2017 campaign. His eight-birdie, no-bogey round added up to 64 and he showed that there’s no such thing as rust when you’re the No. 1 player in Europe. Stennie danced circles around U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson and Master champ Danny Willett. All he did was beat D.J. by eight shots and Willett by a whopping 10.
Maybe it’s the warmup music that the European Tour is now playing on the range, complete with a DJ station. It obviously got Stenson in rhythm early and he was basically flawless all day, finishing his round on the ninth hole with a short-iron to six feet then nailing the birdie putt dead-center. He started on the back nine and put up six birdies to turn in 30 then added two more, including the final one at nine.
Familiarity with the course didn’t hurt Stenson either. He holds the record of 62, shot 10 years ago.
“I’m delighted,” was how Stenson reacted to his opening day. Why wouldn’t he be delighted? It wasn’t like Stenson arrived a week early to spend countless hours pounding balls in preparation for his season-opener.
It was quite the opposite. Stenson didn’t arrive in Abu Dhabi until Tuesday. On Monday, he was in his homeland accepting accolades and the award as Sweden’s Male Athlete Of The Year. Easy pick there as he became the first Swede to win a major championship.
Stenson downplayed his opening round success, however. “I think I scored better than I played but I kept it under control somewhat, hit a couple of close iron shots and made some putts. There wasn’t much stress out there.”
Stress doesn’t matter much to Stenson, you watch him go about his business and he’s cooler than most.
It also seems that for Stenson, time doesn’t necessarily kill momentum. Last time we saw him he was shooting 16-under par and finishing runnerup to red-hot Hideki Matsuyama at the Hero World Challenge. “There’s nothing that says you can’t pick it up where you left it,” he said without hesitation.
You can also add the fact that Stenson’s swing has looked the same for a long time — simply solid.
With his sneaky sense of humor, Stenson added that his first round success was a by-product of “a lack of sleep and a lack of practice.”
He might appear cavalier but you can bet he’s serious about winning this week. He has had a lot of Middle East success, so much in fact that this is the only European Tour event in the region that he hasn’t won.
That could change in a few days.
