Stenson keen to hit the headlines again

Henrik Stenson was the talk of golf earlier this year – and knows it is high time he did something to make everyone start speaking about him again.

Not many people win tournaments back-to-back with Tiger Woods in the field both times but Stenson achieved just that in February and suddenly he was Europe’s top player and world number five.

The 31-year-old followed victory in the Dubai Desert Classic by capturing the Accenture World Match Play title in Arizona.

“My feet are aching, my head is aching, my wallet is aching,” said Stenson after a double that earned him almost £1m (€1.5m).

Now Stenson is at Wentworth for the HSBC World Match Play Championship, where golf’s first winner’s cheque for £1m (€1.5m) is on offer again.

He opened against American Woody Austin today and was hoping the head-to-head format would make him sparkle again.

Stenson is back down to 16th in the rankings after missing the halfway cut in the last three majors of the season – the US Open, Open Championship and US PGA Championship – and failing to record a single top-20 finish since his last visit to the West Course for the BMW PGA Championship in May.

The only time he has really been in the news in that period was at Carnoustie, but that was for smashing a tee marker in anger and being fined £500 (€720).

“I don’t know how you react when you take a triple (bogey), but I get frustrated,” he said.

“I didn’t expect it to go OB (out of bounds), I got a bit frustrated and it showed obviously.”

Despite his slump Stenson still has the chance to win the European Order of Merit this season.

Having been the long-time money list leader he is currently fifth, but victory on Sunday could take him above Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose, Ernie Els and Niclas Fasth.

All four were also in action today. Open champion Harrington faced BMW PGA champion Anders Hansen, Rose was taking on American Hunter Mahan, six-time winner Els was looking for his third victory over Colin Montgomerie and Fasth played Argentina’s Andres Romero.

The other three matches were defending champion Paul Casey against American Jerry Kelly, with the winner having a quarter-final against either Angel Cabrera or Retief Goosen, and Rory Sabbatini against Soren Hansen.