Stenson Shows Up on Radar at Riviera

Henrik Stenson isn’t quite ready for the dubious label of best golfer never to win a major, but he’s certainly in the running for best player nobody has ever heard of.

At least in this country.

Stenson, 29, from Sweden, stays out of the American spotlight by playing mostly on the European Tour, but anonymity could change quickly for this rising star, who enters the Nissan Open this week at Riviera Country Club as the hottest player on the planet this side of Tiger Woods.

He has finished among the top three in five of his last eight tournaments, including a victory Jan. 29 at the Qatar Masters, where he beat a field that included Ernie Els and Vijay Singh.

The Nissan is only his fourth appearance as a professional on American soil and it’s the first time he has played a regular tour event in this country.

“I always sort of raised my game when I play with good players,” Stenson said. “So to come over here and play with the best players in the world, that really sort of triggers my motivation.”

Last year, he tied for 34th at the British Open, tied for 47th at the PGA Championship in his U.S. debut, tied for 13th at the WGC-NEC Invitational and tied for third at the WGC-American Express Championship, missing a playoff between Tiger Woods and John Daly by two shots.

A year ago this week, Stenson was ranked No. 133 in the world. His recent hot streak has vaulted him to No. 17. He has steadily climbed the European Tour Order of Merit, from 176th in 2002 to 68th in ‘03, 32nd in ‘04, eighth in ’05 and is second this year. He is No. 1 on the European Ryder Cup World Points list.

Not bad for someone who picked up the game as a teen and wasn’t a scratch player until 18.

In the last three years, Stenson has raised his average driving distance almost 15 yards to 299 and has gone from hitting 65% of the greens in regulation to 75%. He also has improved his putting and is third on the European Tour with a putting average of 1.7 per green in regulation.

Lee Westwood, a European Tour stalwart, said he hasn’t played much with Stenson in recent months but said the Swede’s world ranking and standing on the Ryder Cup list tells him all he needs to know about how well he is playing.

“You’d have to sort of presume he’s a fairly good player,” Westwood said.

Stenson will play in the U.S. this week and next week at the Accenture Match Play Championship, then return to the European Tour for a few weeks before returning to the U.S. for the Players Championship and the Masters.

Whether he’s ready to join the PGA Tour full time is a question he’s still pondering.

“I’ll probably have a better answer to that question later on in the year,” he said.

Perhaps then he’ll be more recognizable here, or maybe even in his country, where he lags far behind Annika Sorenstam in the celebrity department.

“I would need to win a few events to be bigger than her,” Stenson said. “Unlikely.”