Keeping the media, and Tiger Woods, in splits is child’s play for the witty Henrik Stenson, but it’s splitting the fairways of Royal Liverpool which will determine whether he becomes the court jester or the King at this year’s Open Championship.
While journalists look forward to their interaction with the world No2, not only because he has produced some amazing golf over the last 12 months, playing partners also anticipate performing with him and enjoy his dry sense of humour. Even Tiger Woods, who is paired with Stenson for the first two days, acknowledges that.
“In the last couple of years I’ve played with him a lot. Henrik is a great guy. He’s fun to play with. He’s got a very dry sense of humour. He always tells jokes throughout the whole day. We’ve always gotten along for a very long time,” he said.
Stenson is not ready to reveal his new collection of jokes that he is going to unleash on Woods the next two days, saying, “you won’t be able to print them”, but he was more forthcoming about what he needs to do the next four days to go one better than his second-place finish last year at Muirfield.
“Well, I think these are probably some of the flattest greens that we play on links courses. And the key is going to be to get on it,” said the 38-year-old, who is yet to win a tournament this year after winning both the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai last year.
“The rough is a bit patchy. You can get some really decent lies, but you can also have to hack yourself out as well if you get a bad one. So hitting fairways is going to be key. If you do that, you give yourself the best chances to hit the greens. And avoiding the bunkers…it is more or less costing you a shot every time you hit it in the fairway bunkers.”
Stenson’s magnificent run last year began with a third-place finish at the Scottish Open, an event that he missed this year. However, he was hopeful that a couple of days of extra practice at Royal Liverpool will make up for that miss.
“I played the Scottish Open last year, and I think it’s great preparation to play that week when it’s on a links course, as we have done the last couple of years. But it was down to my energy levels and how much golf I played, I just felt I needed a bit of extra rest,” he said.
“I just couldn’t keep on going. And coming into a major championship being tired is always a recipe for disaster, because you’ve got to have a fresh head on to take the challenges and the hard work.
“So I made a change of plans. And in 2010, when I finished third at St Andrews, I came over on the Thursday, and I practiced over the weekend and played the course. So I feel like I’ve got some good preparations and good practice in early.”
While Stenson’s not greedy on which major he wins, it would be extra special to claim The Open.
“The Open Championship is a highlight of any season, and for any player, especially European-born ones,” said Stenson. “I started playing golf in 1988 and I watched the Ryder Cup and The Open in ‘89.
“So I got some of my early junior memories from watching golf on TV from this championship.”
