Henrik Stenson wins Players Championship

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson overturned a five shot deficit with a bogey-free final round of 66 to claim the Players Championship by four shots from Ian Poulter of England.

Henrik Stenson
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Sweden’s Henrik Stenson overturned a five shot deficit with a bogey-free final round of 66 to claim the Players Championship by four shots from Ian Poulter of England.

Alex Cejka of Germany led going into the final round but he quickly took himself out of contention, playing the first nine in six over par 42. Tiger Woods also had a poor day at the office and three bogeys on the front nine put him too far back to mount a serious challenge.

Stenson, on the other hand, played near perfect golf on Sunday. He parred the first six holes then made six birdies in the last 12 to card a 66 and secure a four-stroke victory. The win lifts him to fifth on the Official World Golf Ranking.

“It's just going to give me a lot of confidence going into the majors.” He said. “Obviously, if I can play as well as I did today, I surely can do it on a Sunday at the majors.”

England’s Ian Poulter finished alone in second place and was left to marvel at Stenson’s excellent final round.

“I was thinking that if I could finish in front of Tiger, that might be good enough,” he said. “But I wasn't expecting someone to go out there and shoot 66.” Poulter is up to 18th on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Tiger closed with a disappointing 73 to finish in eighth spot, seven shots behind Stenson.

“When you're playing a golf course like this, and you don't have it, and the greens are this fast and this hard, you can shoot some pretty high numbers.” He said.

Another Englishman, Brian Davis finished the week in a tie for fifth.

The Players Championship TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida May 7-10, purse $9,500,000, par 72

1    Henrik Stenson (Swe)    68    69    73    66    276    $1,710,000 2    Ian Poulter (Eng)        67    68    75    70    280    $1,026,000     T3    John Mallinger (USA)    66    71    74    70    281    $551,000 T3    Kevin Na (USA)        71    66    74    70    281    $551,000 T5    Ben Crane (USA)        65    73    72    72    282    $346,750 T5    Brian Davis (Eng)        71    69    71    71    282    $346,750 T5    Jim Furyk (USA)        68    74    71    69    282    $346,750 8    Tiger Woods (USA)    71    69    70    73    283    $294,500 T9    Aaron Baddeley (Aus)    71    71    76    66    284    $237,500 T9    Alex Cejka (Ger)        66    67    72    79    284    $237,500 T9    Tim Clark (RSA)        72    69    74    69    284    $237,500 T9    Vijay Singh (Fij)        71    72    74    67    284    $237,500 T9    David Toms (USA)    67    70    77    70    284    $237,500

Note: Players in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?