Stenson: 'You have to think on days like this'

Henrik Stenson is not sure he will ever be as famous as his caddie, but he could be ranked the third best player in golf on Sunday night.

Just a month after he won his first world championship, the 30-year-old Swede shares the lead in another after an opening five-under-par 67 at the CA Championship in Miami.

Stenson, already up to fifth in the world and warming up brilliantly for the Masters in two weeks, defied gusts of up to 30mph to show yet again what a talent he is.

Asked where he stands in the fame stakes with his new caddie Fanny Sunesson - she helped Nick Faldo win four of his six majors – Stenson replied: “I don’t think I ever will reach the level of equal.

“Obviously she’s well known in the golf world and there are shouts of ’you’ve got the best caddie’ and ’come on Fanny’. A lot of times they are cheering for Fanny. She’s great and we have a lot of fun out there.”

The windy and wet weather was a far cry from the conditions in Arizona when he won the Accenture world match play title four weeks ago – and indeed the Dubai Desert Classic he lifted before that.

Stenson still managed seven birdies to finish the day alongside Australian Robert Allenby, with back-to-form Dane Thomas Bjorn only a shot behind.

“You’ve just got to try to play smart,” he commented. “Hit the fairways, hit the greens, try and give yourself the easiest putts possible.

“You’ve got to think your way around the golf course a little bit more on a day like this. When you’re standing there and your pants are flapping and the putter feels like it wants to go all over the place, a lot of times you have to step away from it.

“I managed to get off the golf course with not too many shots left behind.”

Tiger Woods wished he could have said the same as Stenson. Woods began with back-to-back birdies, but played the remainder in one over for a 71 and described his putting as “pathetic”.

Relaid greens on a course where he has won on his last two visits did not help, though.

“It’s just weird out there in the sense that I putt a lot by memory and what I’ve done here over the years,” stated the world number one, who is defending the title he won by eight at The Grove near Watford last September.

“A couple of the putts did the exact opposite than what they used to do. But that’s just that the grain has not got time to settle in yet.”

Woods is still well in touch in joint 10th place, though, while some other big names really struggled.

Phil Mickelson, whom Stenson could overtake as number three in the world rankings, and Retief Goosen both came in with 77s to be joint 66th of the 73 players, while Colin Montgomerie and Paul Casey were only one better than that.

Adam Scott put three balls in the lake on the long 10th, taking 10 on the hole and also finishing with a 76, while England’s Anthony Wall slumped to an 80.

Padraig Harrington was very happy with his day’s work after 17 holes, but then came a drive into water and a double bogey six. It dropped the Dubliner to one over, the same as Ian Poulter and Paul Broadhurst and one ahead of both David Howell and Luke Donald.