Henrik Stenson

Henrik Olof Stenson (pronounced [ˈhɛ̌nːrɪk ˈstěːnsɔn]; born 5 April 1976) is a Swedish professional golfer. In the late 1990s, Stenson turned pro and had much success on the European Tour, winning a number of events in the 2000s. In 2009, Stenson won the PGA Tour's flagship event, The Players Championship, and has primarily focused on the United States since then. Shortly thereafter, however, Stenson entered a drought where he fell out of the top 200 in the world. In 2013, however, Stenson had his most successful year, winning a number of significant worldwide titles and finishing runner-up at the Open Championship. Due to his success he won the season-ending titles for the PGA Tour, the FedEx Cup, and European Tour, the Race to Dubai. In 2016, Stenson won his only major championship, the Open Championship by three strokes over Phil Mickelson.

Stenson was born in Gothenburg. At age 12, he had his first golf lesson with local pro Richard Bayliss at Gullbringa Gullbringa Golf & Country Club, in Kungälv, north of Gothenburg in September 1988. With parents not playing golf at the time, he first tried the game after following a friend to the course. A natural left-hander, Stenson learned to play golf right-handed.

In 1991, he moved with his parents to Bjärred outside Malmö in southern Sweden and became a member of Barsebäck Golf & Country Club. He reached a handicap of 5 at age 15, scratch at 18 and played in junior and amateur tournaments in Sweden in his teen years.

At age 18, Stenson first represented Sweden in an international championship, at the 1994 European Boys' Team Championship, his team losing in a tight final against England. In 1996, he won the Italian Open Amateur Match-play Championship, beating Robert-Jan Derksen, Netherlands, 5 and 3 in the 36-hole final. In 1998, he played eight tournaments, as an amateur, on the professional Telia Tour, with five top-10 finishes. At the last tournament, the Telia Grand Prix, he led by two strokes with two holes to go, but finished fourth. His achievements during 1998 earned him a place in the Swedish team at the 1998 Eisenhower Trophy in Santiago, Chile, were the Swedish team finished 6th and Stenson was the best Swedish player, finishing 14th individually.

In 1998, Stenson turned professional. Two years later topped the money rankings on the second-tier golf tour in Europe, the Challenge Tour. He joined the main European Tour in 2001, and that year, he won the Benson & Hedges International Open for his first European Tour victory. Each year from 2005 to 2008, he finished in the top 10 of the European Tour Order of Merit.

Stenson reached the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking in 2006 and the top 10 in 2007. In February 2007, Stenson became the first Swede to win one of the World Golf Championships when he beat Geoff Ogilvy 2&1 in the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. This victory took Stenson to the top of the European Order of Merit and to fifth in the world rankings, which was also the highest a male Swedish player had ever been ranked, surpassing Jesper Parnevik's previous record of reaching seventh place in May 2000. In all, Stenson spent over 100 weeks in the top 10 of the rankings between 2007 and 2010. Stenson failed to add to his success over the rest of the season and finished in fourth place on the 2007 European Tour Order of Merit.

Stenson made his Ryder Cup debut in 2006, and after getting a half-point in the foursomes against Stewart Cink and David Toms on the Friday, he holed the winning putt and ensured that Europe won the Ryder Cup for a third consecutive time when he beat Vaughn Taylor 4 & 3 in the Sunday singles. He played again in 2008 at Valhalla, tallying a win, a loss and a draw in the foursomes. However he was not as fortunate as two years before, losing the singles on Sunday 3 & 2 to Kenny Perry.

In March 2009, Stenson created a storm in the media after stripping to his underwear and golf glove in order to play a recovery shot from a muddy water hazard at the first round of the WGC-CA Championship.