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By Kent Gray
He holds the course record of 62, a magical 10-under loop of The National course on the Saturday of the inaugural championship en-route to a runner-up finish. Since 2006, he’s racked up six top 10s, another bridesmaid finish in 2008 and 44 rounds at an impressive stroke average of 69.93 – all the more remarkable when you consider he signed for an 80 in the opening round in 2012 en-route to missing one of four cuts at the European Tour event.
The only thing Henrik Stenson doesn’t own at Abu Dhabi Golf Club is an Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title, something he’s desperate to right next month.
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The 42-year-old Swede has been confirmed to tee it up in the enhanced, $7 million Rolex Series event from Jan. 16-19 alongside world No.1 Brooks Koepka, 19-time PGA Tour winner Dustin Johnson and hat-trick seeking Tommy Fleetwood.
It will mean the “Ice Man”, who last won at the 2016 Open Championship but went 3-0-0 at September’s Ryder Cup and just finished solo 4th at the Indonesian Masters, will have played all 14 Abu Dhabi Championships.
“It’s cool to have played in every edition of this tournament and experienced first-hand its growth into one of the biggest events on the European Tour…” said Stenson whose 11 European Tour wins include two DP World Tour Championships, the 2006 Qatar Masters and 2007 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
“I’ve finished second a couple of times before and have really vivid memories of shooting 62 and breaking the course record in 2006, but eventually losing out to Chris DiMarco. I really want my name on that Falcon Trophy and hopefully that’s going to change next January, although I’m sure there are a few players, including Brooks, Dustin and Tommy, who will have something to say about that.”
Ticket information for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA can be found here.
