Henrik Stenson targeting one last Ryder Cup hurrah Stateside before eyeing captaincy

Henrik Stenson is an Open champion with career earnings totalling more than $50million, 20 professional wins to his name and three Ryder Cups. There remains one overwhelming target for the Swede, a victory on American soil at Whistling Straits next year.

Stenson, 43, was one of Thomas Bjorn’s four experienced picks at Le Golf National last year, claiming three points as Europe cruised to victory over a supposedly vastly superior USA team.

At this stage of his career, having battled injury niggles in recent years, Stenson knows that 2020 will likely be his last shot at an away win in the biannual contest should he make Padraig Harrington’s team.

“I have played five Ryder Cups, three on home soil and managed to win all of those, two losses away so there is only really one thing that I would like to finish that whole chapter off with and that would be an away win,” he told Standard Sport. “Looking at my age and the competition I don’t think I am going to get many more better chances to try and win away at Whistling Straits next year. I certainly have my sights set on making that team and if I play as well as I can then I am sure I will get a good chance of being in there.”

With the race to qualify automatically already well underway, Stenson sits some way down the pecking order for an automatic spot. Qualification off his own back remains the number one target, and there is still a long way to go with the process ending at September’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Should it come down to a captain’s pick, Harrington will have just three for Whistling Straits, Stenson has little concern about how a place comes about, if at all.

“I’ve already had him in a gridlock,” he joked when asked if a charm offensive had been launched against Harrington. “For all the experienced guys we obviously know what it takes to qualify on your own merit and we know that experience is always something that weighs in for picking the team.

“You are not going to get a pick unless you play good so I am pretty chilled about that, I am not going to worry at any point about if I am going to be there or not, I know if I am playing good enough then most likely I will be there, otherwise it is what it is.

“I am not changing my whole schedule around this and say I am going to play ten more tournaments to qualify, I feel like if I am playing my normal schedule, the big events, and do what I want to do then hopefully I qualify on my own merit.

“This last time I needed a pick and I got it and managed to deliver, so if that is the case then hopefully that can happen again.“

While, after five Ryder Cup appearances as a player, those days appear numbered, Stenson is just one of a long line of potential captains in waiting.

Competition for line of succession following Bjorn and Harrington is strong. Lee Westwood is likely to take the reins when the Ryder Cup returns to Europe, in Rome, in 2022. Beyond the Englishman, there is quite the talent pool ready to take on the challenge.

Some will get the opportunity, Ian Poulter was seemingly born for the role, while others may have to settle for vice-captaincy roles.

“If I get the question I am pretty sure I won’t turn it down,” Stenson said of taking the role himself one day. “But just looking at it we are going to end up in a position here in a few years where there is certainly going to be more players who have great careers behind them, great Ryder Cup presence and experience and not everyone is going to be able to be a captain, some are going to get it and not everyone is going to be able to do that.

“Looking ahead it is Poulter, Luke Donald, G-Mac [Graeme McDowell], Rosey [Justin Rose], Sergio [Garcia] and myself. There are quite a lot of us in that bracket age wise and with the Ryder Cup being every second year…

“Which chair are you going to end up on, I am sure there will be some involvement when my playing career isn’t as active.”

Keeping that playing career as active as possible for as long as possible is the aim for every golfer, especially those in the later stages. Smaller injuries become ever more troublesome and thus getting ahead of the curve in terms of fitness becomes as vital as tweaks to a swing.

Stenson, along with a number of the biggest names in golf, has partnered with the Schoen Clinic in London, where a cutting edge programme of testing can aid in identifying and preventing problems before they disrupt a player’s schedule.

“They have the same approach as professional golfers,” said Stenson, speaking at Schoen. “You build a great team around you with expertise that can help you from the swing coach, putting coach to sports psychologist and physio even down to your PA and management. You have someone who looks after individual tasks to give you the best possible help and it is the same here at the clinic.”

Henrik Stenson has partnered with leading healthcare provider Schoen Clinic London. Schoen Clinic London, a world renowned innovator in the treatment and prevention of sports related injuries, is lending its expertise to benefit some of the world’s leading golfers including Stenson, Georgia Hall, Francesco Molinari and Padraig Harrington. Visit www.schoen-clinic.co.uk to learn more.