It’s been an almighty career for Henrik Stenson but one he admits isn’t far from over.
The popular Swede has undeniably been one of Europe’s best golfers of the last 20 years, competing in five Ryder Cups and building a vast portfolio of trophies on the continent and in America.
His personality is infectious and his prodigious power made him a formidable competitor on the course. The man in the hat and glasses was twice a Race to Dubai conqueror and winner of the FedEx Cup too, but his crowning moment was at Royal Troon in 2016.
Stenson overcame Phil Mickelson in a titanic battle that saw some of the best golf ever played at an Open. The years since have flown by and both players took on new horizons with LIV Golf in 2022. While the 48-year-old hasn’t completely admitted defeat, he knows his powers are diminishing and his results reflect this.
“It does feel like it was ‘all those years ago’. I think that’s a good description. I certainly feel an older age, on the older side reminiscing about tournaments played in 2007 and 2008 and so on,” he told NCG.
“That’s where we’re at. I’m in the last couple of holes of my career and I feel very lucky to have had all of those memories and all those good rounds and tournaments to look back at.
“We’ll still try and I feel like my game is in pretty good shape. There are some things I need to address and lift going into 2025. I won my first outing with LIV in 2022 and there have been some good tournaments, but as a whole, clearly, I haven’t quite played as well as I would’ve liked to these last two seasons,” he added, with context of five top 10’s in the last two LIV seasons.
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“There’s been some highlights but there’s obviously been some moments where you’re 30th, you’re 40th, you’re swimming around in no man’s land in a 54-man field, you don’t want to be in 40th position.
“As with all golf, it’s up and down, you’re going to have certain weeks where you’re not performing and certain courses that might not play to your strengths, and you’re going to be a bit further down, but I certainly look to improve on the 2024 season in 2025 and I’ve got a pretty decent idea on what areas I should try and focus on to make the biggest gains.”
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Henrik Stenson: Golf gives you ‘good breaks’ and ‘bad breaks’
Stenson took the road also travelled by Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia to LIV, a Saudi-funded circuit which has been subjected to intense scrutiny. Stenson took arguably the biggest hit when the Ryder Cup captaincy for the 2023 matches was taken from him as a result of his LIV move.
Fans could question why Stenson took the captaincy when he intended to leave for the rebel league and put his DP World Tour membership in jeopardy. But in 2025, LIV players like Garcia, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton will have DP World Tour membership and every chance to play for Europe against the USA at Bethpage, when once it looked like there might not be a way back.
Stenson might feel stung given these developments, especially in the case of Garcia who has burned bridges with words and actions since joining LIV. His withdrawal from the 2022 BMW at Wentworth for no reason sticks out as a key moment when his relationship with the formerly-named European Tour was at breaking point.
Nonetheless, Stenson made his call and won in quickfire fashion in the LIV Golf League at Trump Bedminster, just another victory to add to an overcrowded CV.
He has countless Ryder Cup memories in the bank too. The first of his quintet of European starts saw him clinch the winning point in 2006 at the K Club. Of his playing days, he can have no regrets but this isn’t to say Stenson doesn’t recollect some rounds and shots he’d like back which could’ve led to a larger major trophy haul.
“Muirfield (2013 Open) was the best outside of Troon, but I don’t feel like I let myself down too much, it was more a question of Phil winning that one. I think he birdied five of the last seven holes or something like that on Sunday afternoon to win,” Stenson added.
“I remember walking towards 18 and my caddie Gareth said, ‘I think we need to make a two here, so hit your best drive and try and make that wedge shot’. Then just as we were walking back, we heard a roar on 18 and Gareth said, ‘Do you have a 462-yard drive in you? We need to make a one now because Phil has obviously finished with a birdie’.
“I think I had a lip out on 10 for birdie and then I made a bogey 12 or 13 – but if I make that putt on 10 the lip out, and then you don’t make a bogey, I might’ve been in a better position but Adam Scott was there, I was there, Phil…Lee was up there, and I think even Poulter might’ve made charge early in the last round as well because he was playing earlier, but I didn’t really feel like I let myself down there. The only one I really feel I had bad fortune in was the PGA that Dufner won in 2013.
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“I can’t recall if I was tied for the lead or one back and 14 was a short par 4 up the hill and we hit a perfect 3-wood right in the middle of the fairway and the pin was in an easy position and it was a 50-yard flick over a bunker and I get up there and I’m in the middle of a sandy filled divot.
“I chunked it from the sandy divot into the bunker and I made a bogey. It was either a birdie to tie or I was even, and a birdie would’ve put me in front – I made a bogey, and I was two back with three or four holes to play and couldn’t make anything towards the end.
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“That was the one where you feel like that was not the best time to end up in a divot in that situation and if there’s a round I would like to have over, that would’ve been at the PGA in 2016, because on the Saturday, they called it for lightning about 20 minutes before we were going to tee off.
“I think I was in the second to last group with (Martin) Kaymer at Baltusrol and coming off the win at The Open a week and a half earlier, I was playing really good golf and both my coach Pete Cowen and my caddie Gareth thought that was the best warm-up of my entire career on that Saturday afternoon and with 20 minutes to kick off, the lighting came in and the day was washed.
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“I had to play 36 holes on Sunday and when I woke up, from springing on Saturday afternoon, I was up at 5 am on Sunday morning for 36 holes and with those two weeks from with The Open and the busy week in New York leading up, I was just tanked on that Sunday and I didn’t have what it took to play 36 holes and make the shots on Sunday.
“That’s probably the one round I wish I was able to play on the Saturday because that would’ve been a very good chance to go back to back after The Open, but such is life and such is golf you know, you get some good breaks and you get some bad breaks.”
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