Henrik Stenson stays cool to bag Race To Dubai title

HENRIK Stenson does not do squeaky-bum time.

450198061

HENRIK Stenson does not do squeaky-bum time.

His nerves did not jangle, the pressure did not mount, and he merely topped up his tan and bank account in effortless fashion. To paraphrase Mark Twain, you might have termed it the good walk shoo-in.

So after taking his prize money for 2013 to close to $US20 million (12.4 million pounds) by winning the DP World Tour Championship and the Race to Dubai, the nerveless Swede turned his attention to the dollars 64,000 question. Can he now go on to become the world No 1 after rising from No 230 to No 3 in only 22 months?

"It's going to take a lot of good golf from where I am, but I will keep trying," he said. "Everyone who has won the Race to Dubai has been world No 1 at some stage."

He wants a major championship too, of course, and on this form, becoming the first man to win the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai, it looks a matter of time. "The best player on the planet," Ian Poulter said after chasing him hard, carding a round of 66 and still ending up six strokes short and dollars 100 out of pocket after a private wager.

"He's making golf look easy," Luke Donald said. "I don't think there has been a better player in golf these last six months." Justin Rose, fleetingly in with a shout of denying Stenson the Race to Dubai title, was pithier. "Emphatic," he said.

His form was metronomic. In high winds and with sand blowing across the course, he struck a five-iron to within two feet on the tricky 12th. Egged on, he conceded it may have been "the shot of the year". He then flashed a wood to within a foot on the last for an eagle.

It completed a remarkable reversal of fortunes, both financial and otherwise. Having lost millions in the Allen Stanford investment scam in 2009, his form and health plummeted. Even this week he has been on anti-inflammatories for a wrist injury.

"I'm in desperate need of some rest and don't want to jeopardise the long term," he said. Add that today marks a year since his previous European Tour victory and you have a salutary story. "I'd be lying if I said I could see this coming," he said.

It is a sign of his progress that he has already cemented his Ryder Cup place, having missed out last year. The watching Paul McGinley, the Europe team captain for 2014, will have been buoyed by the form of both Stenson and Poulter, who relishes the panto and patriotism of the cup like no one else.

However, McGinley may not wish to consider that those players responsible for the Miracle of Medinah have barely won since. In more than 300 attempts between the lot of them, only Rose and Graeme McDowell have won in 2013, but both drifted out of contention here in tandem with Stenson's brilliance.

The good news for McGinley is the emergence of Victor Dubuisson and re-emergence of Rory McIlroy. The Frenchman was all but unknown a few weeks ago, but backed up his Turkish Open win with third place. McIlroy, Donald and Lee Westwood were joint fifth on 15 under, a trio of former world No 1s showing signs of recovery.

Stenson will now have his game scrutinised in the same way as McIlroy's slump. The presence this week of Caroline Wozniacki will at least stem the rumours about his private life, but the court case about his departure from his old management group will fester until after the Ryder Cup.

"I'm happy the European Tour season is finally over," McIlroy said. "As a whole it's been disappointing, but at least I've ended it on a positive note and started to play better." When he eradicates "those sloppy shots", he said, "expectations will be very high". It has ever been thus. "It's been a very transitional year, a lot of stuff going on, new equipment and a few things off the course that haven't really helped."

The European Tour, meanwhile, admitted they will amend the Final Series, probably for 2015, in the face of criticism from leading players about having to play two of the preceding three events to be eligible for Dubai.

The Times