‘I’ve never had any concerns travelling anywhere to play golf’

Henrik Stenson says he is not concerned about the security of the players at this month’s Hong Kong Open despite the city’s civil unrest.

The city has seen a series of demonstrations spanning several months which were started as a result of a controversial extradition bill which has since been removed.

The protests have become increasingly more violent and several other sporting events have been cancelled, such as the Hong Kong Open Tennis, which was due to take place in October and the Hong Kong Open squash.

The European Tour’s season-opener is still set to go ahead and Stenson told Reuters: “I’ve never had any real concerns travelling anywhere in the world to play golf.

“We have a Tour and they always put the safety of players and fans first. It’s something that I leave for the European Tour as part of the staging of this event and whenever there’s the go-ahead to play a golf tournament I’m there ready to play.

“It’s never been a concern of mine.”

The Swede had a solid 20th place finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions and has enjoyed some good form on the European Tour recently, finishing tied 17th at Wentworth and tied 3rd in his home country in August.

Stenson has been pleased with recent performances but his typically high standards have him aiming for more.

“When you have got 78 of the top players in the world, it’s never a bad week if you’re finishing 20th even if we always aim to finish higher”

“We want higher and we have the capacity for a lot better than that. I feel it was a decent start on a four or five-week tour here and I’ve had a few days to practice before Sun City, which is my next tournament, and then the Dubai final and then we come to Hong Kong.

Stenson is taking a week off before playing in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the season-ending DP World Tour Championship and the Hong Kong Open which is into its 61st edition.