Henrik Stenson equalled tournament record. Picture by courtesy of Getty Images(c).
FROM THE BBC SPORT.COM WEBSITE
Deutsche Bank Championship, TPC Boston, final leaderboard (US unless stated)
- -22: H Stenson (Swe)
- -20: S Stricker
- -18: G DeLaet (Can)
- -17: J Spieth, M Kuchar, K Stadler, S Garcia (Esp)
- Selected others: -16: B Davis (Eng); -15: I
Poulter (Eng); -13: J Rose (Eng); -10: L Westwood; -8: P Mickelson, L
Donald (Eng); -7: R McIlroy (NI), G McDowell (NI); -4 T Woods
Henrik Stenson shot a five-under-par final round to win the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.
The Swede, 37, equalled the tournament record of
22-under-par, to pass Spain's overnight leader Sergio Garcia and win by
two shots from American Steve Stricker.
Canada's Graeme DeLaet finished third, with Garcia
joined by Americans Jordan Spieth, Matt Kuchar, Kevin Stadler in fourth
on 17 under.
England's Brian Davis finished eighth.
In form Stenson...
- September: Deutsche Bank Championship - 1st
- August: The Barclays - tied 43rd
- August: PGA Championship - 3rd
- August: WGC Bridgestone Invitational - tied 2nd
- July: Open Championship - 2nd
- July 2013: Scottish Open - tied 3rd
Stenson, who has risen to world
number 10 after finishing third at the PGA Championship, trailed Garcia
by two shots heading into the final round, but five birdies on the front
nine moved him into the lead by the turn.
The win takes Stenson above Tiger Woods into top spot
in the FedExCup standings after the second of the four play-off
tournaments.
Garcia's challenge faded with bogeys on four of the
front nine holes and, with his rivals unable to score frequent birdies,
Stenson created a cushion between himself and the rest of the field,
resulting in a three-shot lead with two holes to play.
Stricker rallied late on with birdies at the 17th and
18th, but Stenson failed to drop the shots needed to force a play-off,
signing off with a par at the last.
The victory caps a fine run of form for Stenson, who was ranked 222nd in the world at the start of 2012.
The two-time Ryder Cup winner last won at the South
African Open in November 2012, but has surged through the rankings as a
result of some impressive finishes, including a second place finish
behind Phil Mickelson at this year's British Open.
World number one Tiger Woods finished tied for 65th on
four under par, while his compatriot Zach Johnson made a 25-foot birdie
putt on his last hole to make the Presidents Cup team, which will play
an international team captained by Nick Price in October.
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FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM
NORTON, Mass. -- Over the last two months, no one on the planet has played better golf than Henrik Stenson.
It began with a runner-up at The Open Championship in July and
culminated with a final-round 66 and a two-stroke win Monday at the
Deutsche Bank Championship for what was his fourth finish in the top
three in his last five starts on the PGA TOUR.
With the victory, he not only won on the TOUR for the first time in
four years but took over the top spot in the FedExCup standings from
Tiger Woods.
Early on, however, it looked like Stenson might come up short again when he hit into a hazard on the second hole and made bogey.
That’s when he went into Stensonator mode, though, ripping off four
birdies with robotic exactitude over his next five holes to seize
control at TPC Boston.
“I’m really pleased with how I bounced back,” Stenson said of the bogey.
He just as easily could have been talking about his career.
Just two years into it, Stenson walked off the course after just nine
holes of the 2001 European Open at The K Club with a horrific case of
the driver yips.
“He had trouble hitting the world,” his coach Pete Cowen would tell
Golf Digest five years later. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done
with a student.”
Stenson climbed all the way back, reaching No. 5 in the world. But a decade later he found himself struggling again.
He muddled through a crummy season in 2011, going without a top 10 on
TOUR for the first time in six years. He made nine of 15 cuts and
finished in the top 25 just twice and by the start of 2012 had fallen
outside the top 200 in the world.
Through it all, though, he never lost his sense of humour, and laughter is what helped light the path to the ultimate goal.
The FedExCup field was trimmed to 70 players after the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Take for example the time he and his wife Emma were staying at a ski
hotel in Switzerland when Stenson thought it would be a good idea to
play a joke on fellow pro Carl Pettersson, who was in the next room.
Stenson put on a sweatshirt with the hood drawn tight over his head,
jumped from his balcony to Pettersson’s and yelled, “Give me all your
money!”
Another time in the Canary Islands, Pettersson saw someone trying to
steal a scooter from the front of the hotel, so he and his caddie threw
golf balls at the offender to scare him off.
“That’s what my husband does,” said Emma, who greeted her husband
after the victory along with the couple's two young children, Lisa and
Karl. “There’s never a dull moment. You never know what’s going to
happen.”
For a while on Monday that was true, too.
Sergio Garcia had started the final round with a two-stroke lead over
his good friend Stenson. Only it was Garcia who would have the
meltdown, making four bogeys over his first nine holes to fall out of
contention and finish five strokes back.
“I just wasn't comfortable,” Garcia said. “I wasn't able to trust myself as I did the first few days.”
Stenson of course knows that feeling all too well.
“We've all been there,” he said. “He's been there before. I've been
there. Everyone that's out here has been in that situation. It's part of
the game.”
The funny moments along the way helped Stenson get through his own
tribulations. His talent inside the ropes is what finished the job,
though.
Whether it was at the 2006 Ryder Cup when he sank the clinching putt
at the very place he’d walked away from years earlier, or on the final
hole in 2007 in Dubai when he made birdie to beat Ernie Els by one and
Tiger Woods by two, or in 2009 when he shot a Sunday 66 to win THE
PLAYERS Championship, or this week at TPC Boston, where he led the field
in greens in regulation and made just two bogeys over the final two
rounds.
Even when Steve Stricker crept within two of Stenson late in the final round, the Swede never flinched.
With Stricker facing a long eagle putt on the 18th, Stenson, playing
behind him, holed out for birdie from a greenside bunker on the 17th.
"I'm just pleased I won here," said Stenson, whose 22-under 262 total
equalled the tournament record. "This was a big goal of mine to win a
golf tournament after all those nice finishes.”
And a big relief. After all, a good sense of humor only goes so far.
“Of course I've been low and frustrated at times,” said Stenson, who
has also been known to have a legendary temper. “But I think if you let
that get into your mind too deeply I wouldn't be sitting here talking to
you guys. I'm not giving up. I'm not a quitter. I'll always bounce
back.”
Not that he’s getting too serious anytime soon.
Asked how long he expects this run to last, Stenson just smiled. “Forever and ever, of course,” he said.
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM
NORTON, Mass. -- Over the last two months, no one on the planet has played better golf than Henrik Stenson.
It began with a runner-up at The Open Championship in July and
culminated with a final-round 66 and a two-stroke win Monday at the
Deutsche Bank Championship for what was his fourth finish in the top
three in his last five starts on the PGA TOUR.
With the victory, he not only won on the TOUR for the first time in
four years but took over the top spot in the FedExCup standings from
Tiger Woods.
Early on, however, it looked like Stenson might come up short again when he hit into a hazard on the second hole and made bogey.
That’s when he went into Stensonator mode, though, ripping off four
birdies with robotic exactitude over his next five holes to seize
control at TPC Boston.
“I’m really pleased with how I bounced back,” Stenson said of the bogey.
He just as easily could have been talking about his career.
Just two years into it, Stenson walked off the course after just nine
holes of the 2001 European Open at The K Club with a horrific case of
the driver yips.
“He had trouble hitting the world,” his coach Pete Cowen would tell
Golf Digest five years later. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done
with a student.”
Stenson climbed all the way back, reaching No. 5 in the world. But a decade later he found himself struggling again.
He muddled through a crummy season in 2011, going without a top 10 on
TOUR for the first time in six years. He made nine of 15 cuts and
finished in the top 25 just twice and by the start of 2012 had fallen
outside the top 200 in the world.
Through it all, though, he never lost his sense of humor, and laughter is what helped light the path to the ultimate goal.
Take for example the time he and his wife Emma were staying at a ski
hotel in Switzerland when Stenson thought it would be a good idea to
play a joke on fellow pro Carl Pettersson, who was in the next room.
Stenson put on a sweatshirt with the hood drawn tight over his head,
jumped from his balcony to Pettersson’s and yelled, “Give me all your
money!”
Another time in the Canary Islands, Pettersson saw someone trying to
steal a scooter from the front of the hotel, so he and his caddie threw
golf balls at the offender to scare him off.
“That’s what my husband does,” said Emma, who greeted her husband
after the victory along with the couple's two young children, Lisa and
Karl. “There’s never a dull moment. You never know what’s going to
happen.”
For a while on Monday that was true, too.
Sergio Garcia had started the final round with a two-stroke lead over
his good friend Stenson. Only it was Garcia who would have the
meltdown, making four bogeys over his first nine holes to fall out of
contention and finish five strokes back.
“I just wasn't comfortable,” Garcia said. “I wasn't able to trust myself as I did the first few days.”
Stenson of course knows that feeling all too well.
“We've all been there,” he said. “He's been there before. I've been
there. Everyone that's out here has been in that situation. It's part of
the game.”
The funny moments along the way helped Stenson get through his own
tribulations. His talent inside the ropes is what finished the job,
though.
Whether it was at the 2006 Ryder Cup when he sank the clinching putt
at the very place he’d walked away from years earlier, or on the final
hole in 2007 in Dubai when he made birdie to beat Ernie Els by one and
Tiger Woods by two, or in 2009 when he shot a Sunday 66 to win THE
PLAYERS Championship, or this week at TPC Boston, where he led the field
in greens in regulation and made just two bogeys over the final two
rounds.
Even when Steve Stricker crept within two of Stenson late in the final round, the Swede never flinched.
With Stricker facing a long eagle putt on the 18th, Stenson, playing
behind him, holed out for birdie from a greenside bunker on the 17th.
"I'm just pleased I won here," said Stenson, whose 22-under 262 total
equaled the tournament record. "This was a big goal of mine to win a
golf tournament after all those nice finishes.”
And a big relief. After all, a good sense of humor only goes so far.
“Of course I've been low and frustrated at times,” said Stenson, who
has also been known to have a legendary temper. “But I think if you let
that get into your mind too deeply I wouldn't be sitting here talking to
you guys. I'm not giving up. I'm not a quitter. I'll always bounce
back.”
Not that he’s getting too serious anytime soon.
Asked how long he expects this run to last, Stenson just smiled. “Forever and ever, of course,” he said.
Labels: US PGA TOUR
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