Some major championships are lost on account of unforeseen circumstances. Henrik Stenson is philosophical enough to admit that, even at his best, he may have been unable to halt Jordan Spieth’s waltz towards the Masters last month. Yet the Swede would be entitled to bemoan the denying of a straight fight. Stenson has been thwarted at the Masters before, but routinely because of basic shortcomings rather than some alternative intervention.
Stenson’s circumstances around the first major of this year require a medical dictionary. He was bed-bound with flu in the week preceding Augusta, with that illness spreading into his chest just by the time he thought full health had arrived. During round one Stenson’s caddie, Gareth Lord, remarked to him on the 13th tee that he could probably be knocked over with a finger push. Two holes earlier, Stenson recalls his legs “feeling like jelly”.
Rather than this being the tale of the hypochondriac, it is a nod towards Stenson’s determination. He completed all four rounds, finishing in a highly credible tie for 19th. His reward? A further 12 days of stomach upset after returning home to Orlando, where his three children had been earlier suffering from the same. “I had to grind it out,” Stenson says. “I think I deserved at least half a gold star if not one just to make the cut and then due to a little medication I felt a little bit better on Saturday and Sunday.
“I played quite nicely and at least I got some positives out of that. If it was one year to be ill maybe this was the one because Jordan was playing phenomenal. I played with him the first two days, and I know Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson and a few others put a bit of pressure on him, but it might have been a good thing not to be up there. I probably would have been beaten anyway this year.
“There are definitely things beyond my control. It was interesting knowing that your kids are back home with a stomach virus puking their guts out when you’re going to fly home to that. We had sanitising wipes all over the house but obviously that didn’t help. I got back-to-back illnesses.
“But you can’t control those things. I had some good results in the lead-up, and we’ll just try and prepare again for the US Open.”
Stenson’s approach is admirable. He has not encountered much good luck in any of the sport’s biggest four individual events. It remains an anomaly for a player so talented that there has not yet been a major triumph by this, his 40th year. Augusta has always seemed particularly suited to the Stenson style.
Maybe less so Chambers Bay where the US Open will take place next month. “Physically, I’m in pretty good shape,” he adds. “I’m a couple of pounds lighter, which is never a bad thing if it’s fat. I probably lost a little bit of muscle as well. We’re back in the gym trying to build that up so I feel pretty good.
“In terms of practice I’m a little bit shy on that front. I’m trying to make up some ground on that, but again, you can’t do it all at once, so I’m just trying to slowly build again and looking at the long-term things. Hopefully I’ll be in good shape coming into the US Open”
Stenson paid a visit recently to the newly constructed Seattle venue, opting to walk the course for four and a half hours with just a putter and ball rather than play. Count him out of the number already willing to offer criticism towards what could be yet another wacky US Open venue. “I don’t think it is fair to comment on that until we have played it in competition,” he says.
“It’s a tricked-up links course. It’s got some high elevations, some five, six holes that we normally don’t see on a regular links course, and then we’ve got some more severeness, I’d say. It’s going to be different and it’s quite tricky in places. It’s going to be so much down to the weather as well.
“Since I haven’t played it, it’s hard; it could be a hole that looks tougher or something that looks easier, but certainly if the wind blows and if you were to add a bit of rain, you don’t want to stand there on a 240-yard par-three down to a postage stamp. You need to be sharp with your short game there, it’s going to be tested.
“It will definitely be worthwhile, the trip that I made, and the first time around a new course is probably a good thing, walking and not playing it. I am happy with doing that scouting mission. Also, the conditions in early June might not be the same as we had in the beginning of May, end of April. It’s probably not a bad thing not having played it.”
Rude health would be an even bigger boost.
