Henrik Stenson, by his own admission, had a less-than-spectacular season in 2019, to put it mildly.
But he found some magic down the stretch on Saturday afternoon and it was good enough to earn him his first win of any kind since the 2017 Wyndham Championship.
Stenson, now 43, found himself in the thick of a battle down the stretch of the Hero World Challenge with Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed and host Tiger Woods.
Stenson’s putter came alive in the Bahamas and he made clutch putt after clutch putt to keep himself in the tournament. On the back nine, he drained a 30-footer for a huge par save at the par five 11th then made another big par save from 15 feet at the 14th. He was sitting there at 16-under par as he looked over his second shot into the par five 15th, a birdie-friendly hole to say the least. Stenson pulled a five-wood from his bag then proceeded to hit a million dollar shot. His ball sailed high, landed then rolled right at the hole, nearly going in for an albatross. It stopped eight inches away for the easy eagle that took him to 18-under.
Three straight pars at 16, 17 and 18 and Stenson wrapped up the victory by a shot over Rahm and two better than Reed. Woods finished with 69, 14-under and solo fourth.
Stenson said he and the family will take to the road for an unusual vacation. “We’ll fly to San Francisco take in some sights, rent an RV and drive up the California coast. Then we’ll take the RV to Las Vegas,” Stenson said. “We might end up like the Griswolds (National Lampoon Christmas Vacation).”
Whatever happens on the trip, they’ll have a lot to talk about as Stenson beat an elite field and should improve his No. 40 position in the world rankings.
“It’s been a very average season,” Stenson admitted. “But it finished on a high.”
Hero World Challenge Scoreboard:
