Stenson putts it right

No snapped clubs for Henrik Stenson at Valhalla yesterday, just a lot of love for his putter as the Swede stayed in touch with Rory McIlroy at the top of the PGA Championship leaderboard.

The world number four, last season’s leading money winner on both sides of the Atlantic, may not be having the same stellar summer he enjoyed 12 months ago when he finished second at The Open in Muirfield and then third in the PGA at Oak Hill but he will start today’s third round handily positioned at five under par after negotiating the worst of yesterday’s wet weather conditions to post a level-par 71.

At this year’s Open at Hoylake, Stenson had in a moment of frustration broken an iron across his knee as he trundled to a tie for 39th but a month on and it was the flat stick that came in for special praise as he turned his focus to the weekend and the need for a spark to ignite his challenge for a first major title.

“The putting kept me in the game,” Stenson said. “I didn’t have a great day ball-striking wise. I missed too many fairways. That put me in trouble a few times. My putting kept me in the game.

“I made a few good saves and one or two good birdie putts. All in all, I have to take it. I didn’t have a great day out there, but I still kept it together and that’s a positive. Couple of minutes on the range, hopefully, and we have to turn it up a bit over the weekend if we want to move forward from here on.

“It’s still early to say where we’re going to be. So far so good. I think I’m three or four shots behind at the moment. It could be more than that by the end of the day. There’s still a lot of golf to be played. It’s more of a question if I can turn it up a notch. I need to play better over the weekend.”

Perhaps having carded an opening 66, Stenson’s play yesterday matched the conditions, which he described as “pretty messy”.

“It was a little softer. It’s soaking wet. We’re playing the ball down, which in my book is not the best idea. It’s challenging at times. And also pitching some of those cute little pitches around the green when it’s this wet and it kind of gives way, it gets your attention. That’s for sure.

“It’s been fairly easy to stop the ball even earlier in the week. It’s more that you are not getting any run really on the fairways. You are hitting a lot of shots with very wet conditions around the golf ball and of course that’s going to make it a little bit more challenging. Then it picks up a fair amount of mud at times as well. Like I said, it’s a bit messy.”