Golf: Stenson Ready to Raise the Angst of Rattled Americans

Henrik Stenson is the world's fifth ranked player, winner of nine tournaments and Nick Faldo's tip to win next month's Masters at Augusta, but more than anything right now the Swede is the human embodiment of the crisis of confidence afflicting American professional golf.

"Who are these guys?" is a regular refrain on the PGA Tour these days as American fans, television executives and, occasionally, players look out across the driving range at the latest event and find it filled with men who have never placed a hand on their chest and sung the Star Spangled Banner.

This week in Miami is no different, with 45 of the 73 players competing in the CA Championship at Doral coming from overseas. "I bet I don't know 20% of these guys," the American journeyman Paul Goydos admitted yesterday before adding that 20% of the foreign players probably do not know him.

Not many Americans are as good-humoured as Goydos when it comes to contemplating the shift in the game's centre of gravity and the sight of multiple flags flying over the Doral clubhouse - 17 countries are represented this week - has served only to intensify the angst. Stenson is emblematic of this sea change in the game thanks to his recent victory in the world matchplay championship at Tucson and he is the first port of call these days when people are looking to explain why, outside of Tiger Woods, America no longer dominates the sport.

"Golf has been growing and growing worldwide," the 30-year-old said. "You can tell from the tournaments I used to play when I was an amateur. Countries that weren't on the map when we were playing 10, 15 years ago, all of a sudden they are producing good players. It's growing worldwide and more and more players are coming up from countries that we didn't even know had golf courses 10 years ago. I think that's a factor. I think it just keeps on going."

This reasoning was plausible, not to say diplomatic, but it also avoided a more unpalatable truth that Stenson, as a member of the game's unofficial trade union for top-class players, would never utter in public - that American professionals have things too easy.

As they make their journey from the pampered elite of college golf to the well-remunerated PGA Tour - where 93 players made over $1m (£520,000) in prize money last year - the average American player enjoys a career noticeably lacking in the kind of adversity which marked Stenson's rise to the upper echelons. "He is a great talent. He has the strength of a gorilla, is a fast learner and he is now winning regularly," said Faldo before tipping the Swede to win the Masters. "He is also a solid putter. He is the man."

Six years ago such a glowing reference from one of the greatest European players of the modern era would have been out of the question, not least because Faldo, like most people, would never have given the Swede a second glance. With good reason: he was not very good. In fact, Stenson's game was so bad back then that he contemplated giving up. The nadir came at the 2001 European Open at the K-Club, when he walked off the course after nine holes, telling his playing partners they would "get on better" without him.

At one hole he hit two drives off the tee, one right and one left, that were measured 140 yards apart - an inconceivable margin of error for a 24-handicapper, never mind a professional. "You know, the first couple of provisional balls don't bother you too much. But when the caddie is rattling around in the pocket [of your golf bag] to see if you've got any more balls left, you know you have got a problem," he said when asked to describe his feelings back then.

Lesser players might have walked away from the game but Stenson stuck at it. He changed coach, to the incomparable Pete Cowen, who has worked with the likes of Thomas Bjorn and Lee Westwood. "He has trouble hitting the world," was Cowen's famous assessment of his new pupil, but that is no longer the case.

The pair spent three years rebuilding the Swede's swing and by 2004 he was good enough to win the Heritage tournament at Woburn. But the real breakthrough did not come until 2006 when he won twice on the European Tour and holed the putt that won the Ryder Cup for Europe.

"There's always going to be a few ups and downs in a golfer's career," he said yesterday when asked about his past problems and what the future held. "You just try to work your way through things and become a better player."

Swede on the rise


1976 Born April 5 in Gothenburg

1999 Finishes second twice on Challenge Tour a year after going pro

2000 Tops the Challenge Tour money list, winning three tournaments

2001 First European Tour win, the Benson & Hedges International Open

2006 Finishes sixth in the order of merit and secures the winning point in his first Ryder Cup appearance

2007 Wins Dubai Desert Classic and Accenture Match Play championship

Career earnings £4,659,533


European Tour ranking 1st


Official world ranking 5th