ABU DHABI // As is now typically the case, Henrik Stenson arrives at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship a little undercooked.
The popular Swede, one of only eight players to play the event every year since its inception in 2006, has had a slightly different build-up to most, what with him spending Monday night in Stockholm, collecting an award for Swedish male Athlete of the Year.
The prize was just reward for an excellent 2016, when Stenson sealed his first major title – the British Open – snatched silver at the Rio Olympics and secured the Race to Dubai for the second time in four years. He didn’t land in the UAE until Tuesday, when he set about getting quickly in shape before his opening tournament of 2017 teed off two days later.
“Two out of three nights on an airplane, so I’m feeling fresh,” Stenson said on Wednesday, characteristically tongue-in-cheek. “I’d be lying if I said was doing eight- or nine-hour shifts in Orlando before I headed out, as well. It’s a bit of a soft start for me in terms of practice, but the game felt pretty good. I hope we can carry on from where I left it last year, and we’ll just see if it’s been conserved well enough over Christmas.”
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He will certainly hope so. Stenson spent the festive period skiing in Utah with the family - “I’m not sure it helped my golf too much” - but did do some work last week, fine-tuning his enviable long game and sharpening his putting, too.
“I wouldn’t say I’m feeling as fresh as we would have liked,” said Stenson, whose best finish in Abu Dhabi is runner-up in 2006 and 2008. “But that’s been the same every year, and then we kind of get going.”
If he needed something to kick-start him this week, then Tuesday’s official tournament launch with British DJ Reggie Yates would have helped. The world No 4 was joined on the National Course driving range by defending champion Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Ian Poulter, where they each blasted out tunes not far from where their peers were practicing.
The music will continue all week, in fact, with European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley confirming it will be implemented on the driving range at other events this season. It may not suit some, but it certainly got Stenson’s vote.
“I like practicing to music, so I’m all for it,” he said. “I would imagine the majority of players and the majority of fans will like it. It creates a nice atmosphere. That could be a good way going forward.”
As it happens, Stenson has experienced that to some degree already at the Ryder Cup, while various exhibition events have included “walk-on” music as players are welcomed onto the first tee.
Asked which song he would choose if he had to, Stenson smiled wide and replied: "They always play Dancing Queen when I come walking up."
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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