Henrik Stenson

This week we feature, Henrik Stenson, one of the top ranked players in the world who is renowned for his ball striking ability, which usually keeps him out of trouble and sets him up well in cutting courses apart in the most efficient manner possible. While he lingered on the fringes of greatness in the earlier parts of his career, he has made a successful leap into the upper tier of players in the game near his 30th birthday. While he has yet to win a major, he has been competitive for a title the last two years finishing in the Top 5 four times and has nine Top 10 finishes since 2008. Stenson is featured this week due in part to his success at Bay Hill over the past few years. He has finished in the Top 15 in each of the last three years including two consecutive Top 10 finishes.

Stenson should be a player that fantasy golf enthusiasts look at for their lineups in most all formats and in almost any tournament he enters. He drives the ball well off the tee, typically averaging between 290-295 yards for driving distance and typically ranking between 60-70 on the PGA Tour. His accuracy numbers have been tremendous the last two years where he has ranked 14th and 7th respectively. What really separates Stenson from other players is his strong iron play as he rarely finds himself having to hit out of difficult terrain, allowing him to be a leader in greens in regulation. All of this leads up to the obvious statistic where Stenson enjoys dominance over others, strokes gained tee to green. In 2013, Stenson ranked 2nd and in 2014, he ranked 11th. If there is one area of weakness for Stenson, it is his putting where he gains little if any advantage over his opponents. He finished 135th last year in strokes gained putting and 98th the year before that so if there is one area of kryptonite for Stenson, it is on the greens. However, with such tremendous play up to the green, he is constantly putting himself into position for birdie and eagle opportunities such that he still manages to be near the top in birdie average each year, a very key and often overlooked metric for sites that have scoring systems built towards favoring those who are able to convert birdie attempts.

Of particular note in Stenson’s career, he has won 9 times on the European PGA Tour and 4 times on the PGA Tour. His most significant win on the PGA Tour came in 2013 when he won The Tour Championship to win the FedEx Cup for the year, besting his next closest competitors by 3 strokes. He continued his hot streak of play by winning the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, and winning the European Tour’s Race To Dubai, becoming the first player to win both of those events in the same season. In 2014, he was able to defend his title in Dubai by winning for the second consecutive season. In 2014, Stenson reached as high as #2 in the world golf rankings and placed 4th in the US Open and 3rd at the PGA Championship. At age 38, Stenson appears to be hitting peak form and should be in line to make another strong run throughout the 2015 season.

In his personal life, Stenson grew up in Sweden, but has lived all over the world. He met his wife, Emma, also Swedish, while she was playing golf for the University of South Carolina. They were married in Dubai in 2006, where they lived until 2012. They have 3 children and currently make their home in Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Florida. Stenson enjoys the outdoors, is an avid fisherman and enjoys spending Christmas skiing with family out in Utah. Stenson has his personal life very much centered and this serves to strengthen his game rather than serving as a distraction like other players have dealt with in the past.