Confident Stenson aims for the top

HENRIK STENSON talks as straight as he drives and he made his ambition for the year clear – to end it as Europe’s number one.

The big-hitting Swede claimed his first title in two years at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters, holding off England’s Paul Broadhurst, and in doing so, moved up to second on the European Tour Order of Merit.

Broadhurst, who finished three strokes off the lead to win himself £125,000, described his opponent as “the next special one in Europe”, even talking in terms of the 29-year-old being a potential Major winner.

Stenson said: “I enjoy playing with the best players in the world and I seem to do pretty well when I do, so I just want to be up there in the big events and see how I do.

“I have taken some big steps up the world rankings recently so I am going to try to keep on improving.

“I have an exemption for all the majors and, I expect, the world tour events this year, so my ambition is to play a few regular US Tour events beforehand. But my main goal this year is the Ryder Cup, which means more golf in Europe.”

Broadhurst was most impressed with what he had seen, but suggested there was more to Stenson’s win than met the eye.

“I played with him last week in Abu Dhabi and I told him that he’d win in the near future. You see, whoever I play with tends to win soon after.

“He finished second then, now he has gone and won here. In 1997, I played the US PGA Championship with Davis Love III and he won. The same year I played with Justin Leonard at Troon and he won the Open.

“I’m everybody’s lucky charm!”

In a blustery final round, Broadhurst finished a shot clear of 2003 Qatar Masters champion Darren Fichardt, of South Africa.

And despite a difficult Saturday, Nick Dougherty fought back to claim joint-fourth with fellow Englishman Richard Finch, Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez and Sweden’s Niclas Fasth.

Meanwhile, Jose Maria Olazabal’s play-off defeat by Tiger Woods in the US Tour’s Buick Invitational has moved him up to fourth place on the European Ryder Cup table.

Stenson now leads following his victory in Qatar and Colin Montgomerie slips to third because of Sergio Garcia’s eighth-place finish in America.

The first five places in Ian Woosnam’s side come off world ranking points and the next five from European Order of Merit earnings.

Woosnam adds two wild cards at the start of September. Those in need of one at the moment include Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood.

Current leading positions:

World list: 1 Henrik Stenson 128.04, 2 Sergio Garcia 126.45, 3 Colin Montgomerie 120.42, 4 Jose Maria Olazabal 95.05, 5 David Howell 79.02, 6 Paul McGinley 77.60, 7 Paul Broadhurst 60.84, 8 Paul Casey 58.56, 9 Nick Dougherty 51.46, 10 Kenneth Ferrie 45.03,

European list: 1 Montgomerie 1,498,161, 2 Stenson 1,251,120, 3 Garcia 1,236,372, 4 McGinley 1,183,631, 5 Howell 1,099,223, 6 Olazabal 824,190, 7 Ferrie 735,315, 8 Dougherty 630,106, 9 Broadhurst 617,244, 10 Casey 606,583