Asia Enjoy Strong Start

José María Olazábal`s European Team found the going tough as Asia dominated the opening day foursomes in Guangzhou to build a 3-1 lead in the Royal Trophy.

Thai pair Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat beat Scotsmen Stephen Gallacher and Paul Lawrie 5 and 3 in the lead-off game before Japanese duo Hiroyuki Fujita and Ryo Ishikawa edged out Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger 3 and 2.

The Asian team then went 3-0 up when K T Kim and Kim Hyung-Sung of Korea saw off the challenge of Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen and Spain's Alvaro Quiros with a 4 and 2 win.

Englishman David Howell and Scot Marc Warren pulled a point back, however, a 2 and 1 success over China's Liang Wen-chong and Wu Ashun seeing Europe avoid a foursomes whitewash at the Dragon Lake Golf Club.

The highlight of the day came in that final clash as Warren holed out from the bunker for a winning birdie on the par five eighth.

"It was a bad day for us. We didn't expect that start," said Olazábal.

"Now we have to be spot-on for the last two days - and that's our goal. We have to play aggressively and go for it. We do not have much room to manoeuvre."

With momentum for '14, Woods excited about major venues, new driver

First, I want to thank everyone who has been involved with our World Challenge event as we celebrated our 15th and last year at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The board and members at Sherwood have been great to us over the years. I also want to thank all of the sponsors, volunteers and amazing fans that came out through the years, whether it was perfect sunshine, rain, cold or wind. I'm grateful to all of you for supporting us because the World Challenge helped build our Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Calif. It got us the equity we needed to build a tremendous facility that has served more than 100,000 students since 2006.

When we first started the tournament, it was a fun challenge-season event. The small field had a great time, and the event raised funds for my foundation. Now it's grown into something more serious because of the World Ranking points involved, and we are getting more of the top players to play because of that. I think players are starting to realize that if they play well in the event, they can move up in the World Ranking. It's a lot easier to do that in an 18-player field than a full field. Look at Zach Johnson. His win this year moved him to No. 9.

Next year, I'm excited to partner with Tavistock to move the World Challenge to Isleworth Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Fla. I've played there hundreds of times and lived there for about 16 years. It's an awesome golf course, probably one of the toughest in the state. I think moving there is going to be fantastic for many reasons. It's a great opportunity to grow the tournament and my partnership with Joe Lewis and Tavistock. Also, the international golf calendar has changed a lot over the last few years, and there is more pressure on a player's schedule. So many top players are based on the East Coast, and that makes a tremendous difference in getting a quality field in December. The format will stay exactly the same: 72 holes of stroke play, and my foundation will continue to operate the event.

I'm really looking forward to next year. I played well at the end of this year, so it's nice to have some momentum heading into 2014. I thought I was pretty consistent throughout the year, starting off at Torrey Pines and ending on a positive note at Sherwood, where I finished second to Zach. I think my body of work overall for the whole year was pretty good. I also found a new Nike driver, VRS Covert 2.0 Tour, that I'm really excited about. I drove the ball a little further and definitely straighter than I have been all year.

I'm really excited about the major championships next year. I've won at three of the four venues -- Augusta National, Valhalla Golf Club and Royal Liverpool -- and on Pinehurst No. 2 (U.S. Open), I'm trending the right way, having finished third and second. But I still need to practice, work, grind and prepare, and have my game come together those four times a year, and I hope that will happen.

I'm going to put my clubs away for a while to spend more time with my kids and support my girlfriend Lindsey Vonn as she tries to prepare for the Sochi Olympics. Having experienced reconstructive surgery on my knee and the ensuing rehab, and the amount of pain associated with it, it's really hard to explain to anybody unless you've been through it. And then coming back on it athletically, to trust that it's going to be there, that's a whole different ballgame. I've had my share of experiences in that regard -- unfortunately -- but I think it helps her in a sense because she can bounce ideas off me about what to expect. It is a frustrating process and really difficult to go through.

We see our sports through the same looking glass in how we approach them. We both work very hard and are prepared for our seasons. And when we're ready to go, we give it everything we possibly have and there's no holding back. I think that's some of our commonalities. But she has to be way more aggressive in her sport than I have to be in mine. You're trying to make your way down a mountain at 80-plus mph, and you have to have the adrenaline and the aggressiveness to do it. But for me, I'm trying to tone everything down mentally. I'm trying to play within myself and do all the little things. So that part of it is way different. But I think it's the preparation that we both appreciate and the fact that we can do it time and time again, and we've done it for a long period of time. It's not a flash in the pan, and you just don't do it for one year -- she's done it for 13 years, and I've done it for 18 years. As far as Lindsey competing in Sochi, we're very hopeful. It all depends on how that knee is.

My newest golf course project, El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas, is coming along well. I recently made a visit there and was pleased with the progress. It was great to see grass going down on the front nine and shaping happening on the back nine. I'm excited about how it's turning out.

Of course, I couldn't end this column without giving a shout-out to the Stanford football team. What Coach Shaw has done with that program ... it's top-notch. It's not easy to recruit players with intellect and athletic ability, but he has been able to do it. He's done a helluva job, and it just goes to show you that you can do both. We keep winning that Directors' Cup every year, and I think that's a testament that you can be a great athlete and can have a high academic standard as well. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the Rose Bowl, but I already have a place picked out to watch it.

Thanks again for all your good wishes this year. As usual, there were a lot of ups and downs, but one thing that remained constant was the support of the fans. I want you to know I really appreciate that, and I don't take it for granted. Have a happy, healthy and safe holiday season.

Golf-Fowler, Matsuyama, Molinari among 14 to get Masters invite

Dec 20 (Reuters) - American Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and Italy's Francesco Molinari are among 14 players who have been invited to compete at the U.S. Masters in April.

Thomas Bjorn, Jamie Donaldson, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Matteo Manassero, David Lynn, Thongchai Jaidee, Peter Hanson, Victor Dubuisson, Joost Luiten and Branden Grace are the other 11 invitees, the European Tour 

The 14 earned their places in the first major championship of the year at Augusta as a result of their positions in the final world rankings list of the season published on Monday.

Ninety golfers have already secured a spot at the Masters, raising the prospect of more than 100 players competing in the event for the first time in almost half a century.

A total of 103 players took part in 1966.

Players not already qualified can still book a ticket for the Masters by winning one of the early-season U.S. PGA Tour events, apart from the Puerto Rico Open, or by being in the top 50 of the world rankings at the end of March.

Golf-Asia storm ahead in Royal Trophy

Dec 20 (Reuters) - Asia dominated Friday's foursomes to race into a 3-1 lead over Europe on the opening day of the Royal Trophy at the Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou, China on Friday.

Jose Maria Olazabal, the only Europe captain to have tasted defeat in the event, will need his team to lift their game in the next two days of the Ryder Cup-inspired tournament to avoid a third loss, following Asian victories in 2009 and 2012.

Thai duo Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat set the tone for Asia, captained by Y.E. Yang, beating Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher 5&3 in the opening match.

Japanese pair Ryo Ishikawa and Hiroyuki Fujita extended the advantage by prevailing 3&2 over Nicolas Colsaerts and Bernd Wiesberger.

South Korea's Kim Hyung-sung and Kim Kyung-tae beat Alvaro Quiros and Thorbjorn Olesen 4&2 to make it 3-0 but Europe avoided an opening day washout when Englishman David Howell and Marc Warren of Scotland overcame China's Liang Wen-chong and Wu Ashun 2&1.

Lydia Ko may be on Callaway's books

Lydia Ko appears to have signed her most important sponsorship deal yet.

It's understood the equipment endorsement race is over, with major American manufacturer Callaway Golf securing the New Zealand teenager on what is likely to be a highly lucrative deal.

While an official announcement has not been made, a Callaway 2014-season staff bag has been seen with Ko's name embroidered on the front panel - an almost certain indicator Ko has joined the company's professional roster.

Ko recently visited a Callaway fitting centre in the United States where she met world men's No 5 and Callaway's star asset, five-time major champion Phil Mickelson.

Were Ko to join Callaway, she would continue to emulate fellow New Zealander Danny Lee.

In April 2009, Lee joined the company in a deal reportedly worth about $1.2 millon after also agreeing management terms, supposedly worth about $12.2m, with IMG. Ko also signed with IMG six days ago.

Blake Morris masters wind, leads South Beach International Amateur by one

University of Mississippi sophomore Blake Morris shot a 1-under-par 70 at Miami Beach to take the lead.

On Day 2 of the South Beach International Amateur, the winds of Miami Beach Golf Club crashed many who sailed over from a strong first day at Normandy Shores. Ole Miss sophomore Blake Morris, a victim last year, kept his ship steady enough to emerge with the 36-hole lead.

Morris shot a 1-under 70 at Miami Beach for a two-day total of 3-under 138, good enough for a one-shot lead on Texas Tech freshman Corbin Kasten, Central Florida senior Gregory Eason and France’s Mathieu Decottignies.

Two back at 1-under 140 were Hollywood’s Kristian Caparros, who shot a 68 at Miami Beach; France’s Victor Perez; Virginia Tech senior Bryce Chalkley, pushed up the board by a 4-under 67, the day’s best round at Miami Beach; and Day 1 co-leader Northwestern sophomore Andrew Whalen, shooter of a 3-over 74 at Miami Beach.

The tournament’s final two rounds will be played Saturday and Sunday at the par-71 Miami Beach Golf Club.

Whalen shared the first day lead with Vanderbilt sophomore Carson Jacobs and Sweden’s Tim Widing. Jacobs’ 6-over 76 at Normandy Shores Friday dropped him to 2-over 143.

Widing and fellow Swedish juniors Victor Theandersson and Felix Kvarnstrom came tumbling down the leaderboard Friday at Miami Beach after superb rounds Thursday at Normandy Shores. Widing followed his 4-under 66 with a 4-over 75. Kvarnstrom also shot a 4-over 75, leaving him at 2-over 143. Theandersson’s 11-over 82 dropped him from a tie for sixth to missing the cut, which was at 6-over 147.

"Normandy is a bit easier as a golf course," Swedish national coach Jonnie Eriksson said. "The conditions were a bit tougher today as well. We have a pretty young team. So we’ll probably get some good rounds…and some less good rounds. It’s OK. I think they did fairly well today as well."

The juniors in the Swedish contingent, which include national team members and five who paid their own way, go back Monday after a week in Florida. While giving the usual reasons for coming – weather, quality of course, the tournament – Eriksson said the trip is also a carrot.

"The timing is perfect for us," he said. "We’ve had two months of training indoors. To get through those two months, you have to look forward to something."

Shannon Aubert takes Dixie Amateur title in playoff

For a girl who says she doesn’t know how to win, Shannon Aubert did pretty well Friday.

The ever-smiling Aubert was smiling more than she usually does after capturing the Dixie Amateur Women’s Golf Championship in dramatic fashion, beating Simin Feng on the first playoff hole at Heron Bay Golf Club in Coral Springs.

“This was nice, it really ranks up there,” said the French-born Aubert, who is Stanford bound.

Aubert started the day three strokes up but actually trailed by a shot at one point. She recovered with birdies on holes 10, 12 and 13, and by the time the final group got to No. 18 it was apparent the winner would come out of that final threesome — Aubert, Feng and Nicole Morales.

Aubert had a one-stroke lead over the other two players as they prepared to tee off on 18.

Morales sent her drive into the reeds next to a lake and had to take a penalty stroke, but then managed a spectacular par when she rolled in a 33-foot putt. Next up, Feng was on the fringe but managed to chip in a 50-footer for birdie using a 60-degree wedge.

Aubert, still smiling as usual, was also shaking her head in bemusement as her two playing partners were finding nothing but the bottom of the cup from far, far away. Aubert, who had a 71 Friday for a 280 total, made her two-putt par, and that left her and Feng (68-280) in a playoff as Morales (69-281) was on the outside looking in.

Aubert could only laugh about the turn of events and went over and told Feng her chip-in was “mean and cruel.”

In the playoff, going back to No.18, Feng chipped five feet away from just off the green with her third shot. Aubert blasted from a trap nine feet past the pin.

Advantage, Feng.

Aubert responded by dropping the nine-footer and punctuated it with a fist pump. Feng then lipped out her short putt.

Of the winning nine-footer, Aubert said, “Yeah, it felt more like 60 feet. It was nerve-racking.”

After the putt, she unsuccessfully tried to escape her friends, who rushed the green to pour water on her from cups, plastic bottles and pitchers.

She walked away soaking wet, and — as usual — smiling.

In the men’s competition after two rounds, Chris Carlin of Plantation shot a 66 Friday to go with his opening 70 on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead over McCormick Clouser (67-71) and Richard Donegan (66-72).

The men played the first two rounds at Woodlands Country Club, and those making the cut will switch over to Heron Bay for the final two rounds. Those not making the cut will play a separate tournament at Heron Bay.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/20//v-fullstory/3830504/shannon-aubert-takes-dixie-amateur.html?#storylink=cpy

Aubert takes victory with dramatic playoff

CORAL SPRINGS—

Every time it looked like Shannon Aubert might let the Dixie Women's Amateur slip away, she came up with golf shots that would make a touring pro proud.

The best one came on the first playoff hole Friday afternoon. Tied with Simin Feng after 72 holes at 8-under-par 280, Aubert was in a greenside bunker on the par-4 18th hole at Heron Bay Golf Club.

She blasted out nine feet past the pin. Feng, whose approach rolled into the fringe at the back of the green, had an easy chip that she tried to make and it rolled five feet past the hole.

Knowing she needed to save par to keep playing, Aubert made a perfect stroke and started walking to the hole before the putt even fell into the cup.

When Feng, who'd struggled with her putting all week, lipped out her par attempt, the 18-year-old high school senior from Port St. Lucie was the winner.

Aubert was the only one in the 112-player field to break par each day with rounds of 68-70-71-71. Feng, 18, who lives in Windermere and is a freshman on the golf team at Vanderbilt, shot 72-71-69-68. She had only three bogeys all week, all because of three-putts.

"My putting wasn't so pleasant this whole week," said Feng, who said she pushed her playoff par attempt. "I knew she was going to make her putt because she was making that kind of putt the whole day. I was actually going for the pin with my chip and it went a little too long."

Nicole Morales, 17, who is from South Salem, N.Y., but moved to Lake Mary this year to attend Lake Mary Prep and play more golf, was a shot behind in third at 281 after a 69 Friday.

Meghan Stasi, of Oakland Park, shot 73 to finish in a three-way tie for seventh at 287. Defending champ Isabelle Lendl, who was followed by her famous father, Ivan, was 10th at 289.

Aubert, who started playing golf when she was 8 and will attend Stanford on a golf scholarship, started the day with a three-shot lead over her playing partners Feng and Morales.

That lead vanished as Feng birdied Nos. 1, 2 and 4 and Morales birdied 1, 2 and 6. Aubert regained the lead when both her opponents bogeyed. When she bogeyed the par-5 9th and Morales birdied it, she was behind by a shot.

"On the first nine, I was hitting fairways and hitting greens and kept making pars," Aubert said. "I birdied 10, 12 and 13, so that really helped me."

Those birdies gave her a two-shot lead over Morales, who bogeyed 12 and birdied 13, and a three-shot lead over Feng, who birdied 14 to get within two shots.

Aubert made a tough up and down from a greenside bunker on the par-5 16th by sinking a 6-footer for par.

She faltered on the par-4 17th, hitting her drive left into a fairway bunker, then plugged her approach into a greenside bunker. She came out short onto the fringe and two-putted for a bogey.

"I think it was just nerves on that drive," Aubert said. "It was kind of good to make a bogey after that."

Morales had an excellent opportunity to tie Aubert on 17, but her 5-foot birdie putt rolled over the edge of the hole.

The excitement was far from over. On 18, Morales drove right, into a lateral hazard, and had to take a drop because her ball was embedded. She hit her third shot on the green, but took consolation in sinking the 33-foot putt for a par.

Aubert's second shot landed 20 feet from the pin. Feng, who had hit every green, saw her approach end up on the fringe about 50 feet from the pin. Using a 60-degree wedge, Feng chipped the ball into the hole for birdie.

"I saw her hit that chip and thought, That looks too good," said Aubert, who left her birdie putt short, setting up the sudden-death playoff.

"I'm very pleased to finish second," Feng said. "Being in a playoff, it's all I could ask for after being three shots behind with five holes to play.

"I'm pleased that I gave myself a chance."

Warren helps Europe avoid Royal Trophy whitewash

MARC Warren helped Europe avoid a whitewash in the opening session as Jose Maria Olazabal admitted his side had left themselves with “little room for manoeuvre” in the Royal Trophy in China.

Helped by holing a bunker shot at the par-5 eighth, Warren joined forces with Englishman David Howell, this year’s Dunhill Links winner, to record a 2 and 1 victory over China’s Liang Wenchong and Wu Ashun.

But it was the sole highlight for Olazabal on the first day’s play at Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou as Asia, led by YE Yang, took a 3-1 lead in their bid to hang on to the silverware.

Sent out first by their captain, Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher lost to Thai pair Thongchai Jaidee and 
Kiradech Aphibarnrat by 5 and 3. Following a good opening drive from his partner, Gallacher’s attempt to reach the par-5 first in two bounced off the rocks on to the fairway and the hole was eventually halved in birdie-4s.

But that was about as good as it got for the Scottish pair as the in–form Thai duo rattled off three more birdies in the next five holes and found themselves four up as Gallacher lost a ball in the trees on the sixth hole before Lawrie followed him into the undergrowth after heading back to the tee.

Kiradech’s putter was proving red hot and, after the Scots finally won a hole with a birdie on the 11th, the newly–crowned Asian Order of Merit champion struck a killer blow by sinking a 40-footer for an eagle on the long 14th. It was all over on the next hole, as Lawrie and Gallacher conceded when their opponents were left with two putts to win the match, and Asia had secured the first point.

Japanese duo Hiroyuki Fujita and Ryo Ishikawa then beat Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger 3 and 2 before K.T. Kim and Kim Hyung-Sung of Korea put Asia’s third point on the board with a 4 and 2 win over Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen and Spain’s Alvaro Quiros.

Warren played his part in Europe’s only success, starting when he hit a booming opening drive down the 
fairway to pave the way for a winning birdie as Howell rolled in a six-footer. The Scot then holed a 12-footer for a winning birdie at the fifth, produced a piece of magic to hole a bunker shot on the long eighth when his ball looked hopelessly plugged then followed up with another winning birdie on the ninth.

“Obviously it was a bad day for us, and we certainly didn’t expect to be this far behind after the first session,” admitted Olazabal. “We don’t have much room for manoeuvre – we really have to go for it from now on.”

In today’s fourballs, Lawrie and Gallacher were up against Jaidee and Aphibarnrat again, with Warren and Howell also facing the same opponents, though this time in the second match. Olazabal mixed up his other two pairings, sending Olesen out with Wiesberger (against Ishikawa and Fujita) and pitting big-hitters Colsaerts and Quiros against K.T. Kim and Kim Hyung-Sung.

McGinley’s Ryder Cup diary under lock and key

PAUL McGinley has vowed not to cash in on his stint as Ryder Cup captain by writing a book detailing what goes on behind the scenes at Gleneagles.

Mark James and Paul Azinger are among the previous captains to have gone into print about their time in charge of Europe and the United States in 1999 and 2008 respectively, but McGinley will not follow suit.

“I want the players to know that what happens behind the scenes next year stays there and they can be free and open,” McGinley said yesterday. “I won’t write a book.”

McGinley was also careful not to reveal too much of what happened in the European team room in Chicago last year, when as vice-captain he witnessed first-hand the events which sparked the “Miracle at Medinah”.

Jose Maria Olazabal’s side trailed 10-4 on Saturday afternoon until Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald beat Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker and Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter saw off Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson on the 18th green to reduce the deficit. That led to Poulter’s famous comment to his team-mates that “We have a pulse” and the following day Europe completed a record comeback from 10-6 down to win by a single point and retain the trophy.

“We had a team meeting on Saturday night around 10pm which lasted for 20 minutes and if you had sat and 
observed a team that was four points behind, you would have come out and called your bookie to find out what their odds were,” McGinley added before receiving the 2013 PGA recognition award for his outstanding service and contribution to the game of golf.

“It was not a case of ‘Braveheart’ and standing on chairs but there was a feeling in the room that this was achievable.”

McGinley has been part of three winning Ryder Cup teams as a player, holing the winning putt at The Belfry in 2002 and then during the record nine-point victories at Oakland Hills in 2004 and the K Club in 2006.

But the Dubliner is grateful that he experienced the sensation of being well behind at Medinah as he looks to secure an eighth European win in the past ten contests next September.

“It was horrible to be on the receiving end of an American onslaught but that was such a wonderful Ryder Cup for me in terms of my experience point of view,” McGinley added. “We had never been behind the way we were at Medinah.

“I’m glad it happened that way because I have that experience to fall back on and I learned a lot from Jose Maria on Friday and Saturday night.”

McGinley also has the experience of playing a Ryder Cup on home soil in 2006 and wants to see some Scottish players on his team for Gleneagles, but has warned the likes of Paul Lawrie, Stephen Gallacher and Marc Warren that they must earn a place.

“I would love to see some Scots in the team but they have to give me a reason,” McGinley said.

“They performed well in the Seve Trophy earlier this year but have so far not picked up many qualifying points.”

If Lawrie fails to make the team, there is a strong suspicion he would be one of McGinley’s four vice-captains, with that decision not being made until May or June next year to give the possible team time to come into better focus.

McGinley was delighted to see Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia pick up their first wins of the year recently and added: “I think those three wins will set them up nicely. They will enjoy their Christmas a bit more and come out with a spring in their step in the new year.”

Jason Dufner commits to Hyundai Tournament of Champions

The Hyundai Tournament of Champions will welcome back 2013 major champion Jason Dufner for the PGA golf tournament that will be held at The Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort from Jan. 2-6.

Dufner won his first major championship in August at the PGA Championship.

All four rounds of the tournament will be broadcast on the Golf Channel, giving national exposure to Hawaii and Maui.

The PGA Tour announced in early September that Hyundai Motor America extended its title sponsorship for the tournament for two more years, which will carry the tournament through the 2015 season.

Henrik Stenson: ‘It’s been the season of my life’

For much of this year Henrik Stenson could have whacked a cricket ball round the golf course and still broken 70. There is a beautiful economy of effort when the ball is coming out of the middle, typified at the penultimate tournament of the European Tour’s inaugural Final Series in Turkey when Stenson strode on to the tee box, shaped a lump of earth into an alternative tee peg with his fairway metal, placed his ball neatly atop the mound then smashed it down the fairway in a textbook, arching draw. Thank you very much.

Tiger Woods is rarely discomfited on a golf course but even he must have felt a teeny bit reduced having to follow that, especially in the conventional use of a tee to launch his ball instead of nature’s sod, oh so casually commandeered. This is what Stenson can do when his game is on. And how it has been on since June: long, straight and fearless.

At other times in his career following Stenson around a course required a hard hat. At the start of last year he had slipped out of the world’s top 200. It was the second serious slump of his career and more worrying given his vintage. Troughs are not new to the golfing graph. Climbing back on the bike twice, the second time at 37, is not the norm among golf’s yipping, twitching, slicing basket cases.

This is Stenson’s inimitable take on life at the bottom of the pit, and what it takes to begin the long walk to freedom: “When it’s raining it’s pouring. Be grateful when it works out and it feels easy because you know it is going to be difficult at times. When you get in a bad cycle it’s a gradual thing. Errors creep in almost imperceptibly and before you know it you are hooking it, the fairways start to appear a little smaller and confidence goes.

“And when you come back it takes a lot of time. It’s not like I ate a lot of carrots and did more push-ups in June and all of a sudden I’m playing better in July and August. That process starts nine months before when you start looking at things, making small changes.

“It’s not a quick fix. You are not getting things for free. Eventually you are getting enough pieces of the puzzle together. When you are down that is what you are looking for, hoping that this will be the week you find something in your swing or your putting, but really it is the long-term work that is going to pay off.”

That’s one way of expressing what happened next. To recap, Stenson sent out a flare in March, finishing second at the Shell Houston Open. Hello. He then finished fifth at the Players’ Championship in May, a result that went largely unnoticed with attention focused on Woods and Sergio Garcia trading handbags across Sawgrass.

It was only when he crossed the Atlantic, posting a third at the Scottish Open before chasing Phil Mickelson home at Muirfield in the space of seven days, that the krone began to drop. A fortnight later at the WGC-Bridgestone he finished second to Woods. One week after that he finished third in the final major of the season, the US PGA.

This was heading only one way: towards nirvana and a jackpot of $10m, which he claimed with two wins, at the Deutsche Bank and Tour Championships, in the PGA Tour season-ending FedEx Cup play-offs. Had enough? Neither had Stenson.

Back across the pond he came to win the European Tour finale, the DP World Championship in Dubai, and seal the Race to Dubai title. 

“I’ve had the season of my life, a dream year really. The shot I hit down the line at the Houston Open to get into the Masters – I finished second in the end there – that was the big turning point. That’s when it felt like I was hitting proper golf shots under pressure over the last couple of holes to have a chance to win a tournament on the PGA Tour. The confidence started to build. To be in contention as I was over the summer over so many weeks was something very special.

“We all know how hard it is to play well week in, week out. I don’t know if I’m ever going to come near a stretch like that again. Of course, I hope and will keep on trying, but this might be the one where I look back and it turns out to be the year of my career. It was once in a lifetime to win the double and the bonus of taking both championships on both sides of the Atlantic was amazing.”

The coin banked feeds into the other great narrative of Stenson’s life, the losses he took after placing his investments in the hands of crooked financier Allen Stanford. Wilder estimates claim the association wiped $8m off Stenson’s fortune in the post-2008 apocalypse. The return to credit was welcome but not, perhaps, the mixed messages his windfall sent, particularly back home in Sweden, where he heads this Christmas for his annual family reunion with wife, Emma, and children Karl and Lisa. 

“The focus on money might have been a little too high. I don’t have a problem with there being a debate about money in sport, the very large sums we play for when we are playing well. But I don’t see why golf should be seen in a different light. Of course $10m is a huge amount of money. But it’s not the players who decide. It is market-driven. The sponsors would not put in the money if they did not get value. Football players make a lot of money, hockey players too. There are lots of sportspeople making huge money.

“There are others who put their heart and soul into sports where there is not the same money to be won, which makes the comparison tough, but I don’t see why golf should be treated differently to other professional sports and looked down on. I sometimes get that feeling it does. Maybe it’s starting to change. I just wish that people would look at the achievements that I did, the sports side of it not the money side.

“I didn’t start playing, thinking that in 22 years’ time I might be able to make a nice prize cheque. That’s not why I started playing golf and not why I keep on going. At this stage the most pleasure I take from this is winning. In the two play-offs [FedEx Cup final series] I beat the best players in the world at two tournaments and won the overall FedEx Cup. Winning those and making those achievements happen is more important to me than the prize money. I made some nice money over the years. I’m not saying I don’t want the money, it’s a very nice bonus, but if you are only playing for the money that is a dangerous place to go. I love to compete and play great golf and it’s a lovely feeling when it comes together.”

Stenson’s success has propelled him to the top of the Ryder Cup rankings. A third appearance, at Gleneagles, is an obvious date for his 2014 calendar. There are four others. “I finished second at the Open, third at the US PGA. I was up there challenging for the win, came close to winning and felt like I had more to give. That’s the exciting part for me. If I can play well at one of the big ones next year it will be interesting to see if I can pull it off at one of the majors.

“At the Open I had a lip out on the 10th and on 12 and 13 gave away easy bogeys. I played well the last five holes. You never know what might have been but Phil [Mickelson] was a deserving winner. He played great and sometimes you just have to accept that someone else is having a better week.

“Hopefully I can kick on next year. Being a European, the Open Championship, one of the tournaments I watched on television when I first started to play the game, would be the one I would most like to win but I’m not picky. I would be happy to put my name on any one of those trophies, or get a jacket.”

From bust to boom: how fortune turned

Henrik Stenson lost a reported $8m in the financial collapse of 2008, having invested his money with jailed financier Allen Stanford. “No one would be happy losing a big part of your savings but that happened early in ’09 and then I won the Players,” he said. “It is a done chapter for me. I’ve moved on. Luckily, I’m in a sport where I can make a lot of money if I’m playing well and make up for things quickly in that sense. Other people are not as fortunate. That is the sad part when those kinds of thing happen.”

Stenson’s golden year

The Open, Muirfield (July) Second, three shots behind Phil Mickelson.

Bridgestone Invitational, Akron (August) Second again, tied with Keegan Bradley behind Tiger Woods.

PGA Championship, Oak Hill (August) Claims third the following week.

Deutsche Bank Championship, Norton (September) First win of the year as he becomes first European winner of FedEx Cup.

DP World Tour Championship, Dubai (November) Wins climax of the European Tour (right) by six shots, finishing with an eagle.