Monday, May 11, 2009

The Player's Champion!

This year, the Player’s Champion is Henrick Stenson from Sweden. Stenson hit the ball long and straight. He just kept coming and coming, hitting every fairway but one, never making a bogey, throwing in six birdies, and shooting 66. He finished 12-under par, winning by four strokes. Even though Tiger Woods was in the last group of the day, he never seemed to be a factor. Everyone wanted to see Tiger mount a charge and put some pressure on the leaders. Well, even though he didn’t ever make a big move, he did apply pressure on Alex Cejka who started the day with a 5-stroke lead. That quickly disappeared and he was no longer a factor either. It is a different animal when you are paired with Tiger! The closest guy to Stenson was Ian Poulter but he just ran out of holes. Even though the finish was a little anticlimactic and it didn’t come down to extra holes like last year, it was still an enjoyable tournament to watch. But that could mainly be because of the closing holes on that course, 16, 17, & 18 are three of the toughest finishing holes in all of golf. It is always fun to watch golfers finish that stretch!
Henrick Stenson was the 9th rank golfer in the world going into this week, but not many people in the US know about him. But he'll always be remembered as the guy who stripped down to his underwear to play a shot out of a water hazard at Doral. Stenson will move up to No. 5 in the world ranking after the victory and I am sure we will see him atop the leader boards for a while to come.
Here is Henrick wearing only his briefs and a golf glove hitting his shot at Doral.

Nice job Henrick!

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