As a rule, people are wise enough not to pre-judge a Ryder Cup captain. But in the case of Henrik Stenson, who will lead the European side of 2023 at Marco Simone in Rome, there will be no shortage of fans to suggest that he will emerge as an admirable captain whatever the result.
His CV is impressive, what with a record-setting win in the 2016 Open Championship and a mix of titles on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet how the 45-year-old Swede unfurls in real life tells you so much more than a few facts.
Zach Johnson's opposite number is someone who will revel in a role which, to his way of thinking, is not all about him. Stenson wants to be a “players’ captain” and he wants to share the honour with his Swedish compatriots. “Going back to the history of Swedish players,” he said at last week’s press conference, “I feel like this is also for them.”
Though he had signed to say that he would not be joining Greg Norman’s LIV Golf Invitational Series after his appointment, you suspect that no signature was necessary. Having his pockets stuffed with Saudi dollars would have meant nothing compared to how he felt as he held aloft a replica Ryder Cup trophy at last week's announcement (the original trophy never leaves the PGA of GB&I’s headquarters in the English Midlands).
Pete Cowen, Stenson’s coach of 21 years, was quick to point out that his player would have been thinking, too, of his family, with particular reference to his 11-year-old son, Karl. “He’s already a fine little golfer, and it’s going to mean the world to Henrik that he will be in Italy to share in the experience. By then, he’ll be at an age where he can take everything in.”
When Global Golf Post asked (Pete) Cowen what he thought his long-time pupil would do best, he did not have to think twice: “He’ll make them happy when they’re sad.”
There was a lovely example of the close bond between father and son at last year’s pre-Christmas PNC Championship, an event which is open to major champions and their offspring or immediate relation. Peter Jacobsen, the compère at a tournament dinner, probably had the go-ahead from Henrik with the line of questioning he had in mind, but what a lovely moment it was when Jacobsen suggested to Karl that he and his father were clearly in with a chance of winning. “Not the way he’s playing,” said Karl of his dad.
It’s maybe just as well that this ruthless little taskmaster is not old enough to be a vice captain, because not every player in the European team might take to criticism with quite the same glee as Henrik did that evening.
Karl also made for laughter when he mentioned his father’s on-course temper — at least until Henrik put his hand over his mouth. By no means everyone would have witnessed an illustration but, for me at least, there was never an incident to match that during the 2007 Open at Carnoustie when he smashed the tee box at the short eighth after hitting out of bounds. Never can anyone have made a more comprehensive job of demolishing one than he did; smidgeons of the marker took off in all directions.
“There’s nothing wrong with the occasional flare-up,” said Dame Laura Davies when she learned of Stenson's appointment. “The thing about Henrik is that he’s got a bit of everything. He’s a great character and has a wonderful sense of humour, for a start. The players respect him, and they’re going to be thrilled he’s got the job.”
When Global Golf Post asked Cowen what he thought his long-time pupil would do best, he did not have to think twice: “He’ll make them happy when they’re sad.”
Cowen, who eventually passed the on-the-range teaching of Stenson to his assistant, Mike Walker, explained that Stenson had been too much of a perfectionist as a player — something which had made him tough to teach: “I once talked to him about the three ways of winning. You can do it playing OK, you can do it playing badly, and you can do it playing perfectly. The trouble with Henrik is that he’s only been able to do it playing perfectly.”
In other words, heaven knows how much else he could have won if he hadn’t been so hard on himself.
Cowen then issued his reminder as to how good captains do not always win. “If you’ve got two or three people playing poorly, you’re always going to struggle,” he said. He mentioned Whistling Straits as the perfect example of a match in which the European players, unlike the Americans, were not all up to the task. In Cowen’s estimation, the European side of ’23, as it appears at the moment is “four players short of a great side.”
Apart from the more obvious candidates, Cowen thought that Denmark’s Højgaard twins, Nicolai and Rasmus, had a good chance of stepping up to the plate, while he also gave a mention to Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry from Belgium. Sweden’s Alex Noren, a member of the winning Ryder Cup side in 2018, along with Francesco Molinari, were two more who would make sense. “If Francesco can find his form for a match in his homeland, it would make the Italian crowd doubly engaged. That would be a huge help.”
On the subject of Marco Simone G&CC, Cowen said it was for the good that Stenson was into course design and would therefore be able to play a significant part in setting up the course. “All my players,” said the coach, who will always give you the whole truth, “have been telling me that Marco Simone is an American-type course, and that if it’s set up incorrectly, it will be greatly to the Americans’ advantage.”
From there, he moved on to Stenson’s capacity to speak to several of the Europeans in their native tongue: “His Spanish and Italian, to give just two examples, may not be brilliant, but he knows enough to get by, and the players love it.”
Along not-too-different lines, the new captain has no trouble chatting happily to the press. He trusts them — and what a difference that makes to the life of the writers. You never hear him fobbing them off with one of those clichéd “I had fun out there” comments.
He even sent a bemused emoji by way of a reply to The Scotsman’s golf correspondent who had tweeted that his wife’s sudden interest in the Ryder Cup, along with his daughters’, was all down to Stenson’s good looks.
Perhaps the making of the man has been down to the way he has handled the bad times, the most notorious of which came when he was a victim of the Allen Stanford financial scandal of 2010. His ranking suffered no less than his savings. Having been as high as fourth in the world rankings in 2009, he plummeted to 230th in early 2012.
Meanwhile, everything Stenson said last week reminded one of just how adeptly this well-rounded individual will handle the speech-making demands in Italy.
Ever since Sir Nick Faldo delivered his clanger of an address at the opening ceremony of 2008, officialdom has been a bit wary of that side of things. In ’23, in contrast, they can sit back and enjoy what their man has to say.
Top: Newly appointed European captain Henrik Stenson clinched Ryder Cup as a rookie in 2006.
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