Super-charged Stenson targets world top spot

Swede looking to end dream year as number one golfer.

DUBAI: Henrik Stenson, the DP World Tour Championship winner and Europe’s number one, insisted that only a Major win or becoming world number one can top the year he has had.

On Sunday, the Swede won the $8 million season-ending championship, thus becoming the first player to win both the FedEx Cup and the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour, and the Race to Dubai and the DP World Tour Championship on the European Tour.

Since finishing third in the Scottish Open in July, Stenson has set the standard in world golf, winning three tournaments and finishing inside the top-10 nine times in 13 starts across both US and European PGA Tours.



In that period, he has amassed $17.9 million on the golf course alone, including $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup and $1 million for winning the Race to Dubai.

Stenson acknowledged this has been a dream season for him, and when he won the South African Open exactly one year ago, he never thought all this would be possible.

“Obviously, it’s been a dream year, a dream summer for me, and the season of my life,” he said. “I would be lying if I said I saw all that coming.

“I don’t know how I am going to be able to top this next year but I am going to give my best in the Majors and if I can become the first male Swedish player to win a Major, that would be the icing on the cake.”

Now that he is the European number one, the next logical step would be to aim for the world top spot in the rankings.

“It’s going to take a lot of good golfing from where I am to reach number one,” said the world number three. “But I’m going to keep on trying.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2013.

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