Henrik Stenson stressed his commitment to the Ryder Cup after being revealed as Europe’s new captain and simultaneously delivering another body-blow to Saudi Arabia’s plans to become a golfing super power.
The first Swedish captain, 45, was picked ahead of Luke Donald for next year’s event in Rome after distancing himself from the Saudi-backed Super Golf League. Stenson had been courted by the Saudis with a rumoured $30 million (£23 million) contract, but the top players have been turning away from Greg Norman’s much-vaunted breakaway.
Whether that sea-change affected his decision remains unclear, but clearly Stenson will not be jumping ship if the super league resurfaces before next year’s Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
“There’s been a lot of speculation back and forth [about the Super Golf League] and, as I said, I am fully committed to the captaincy and to Ryder Cup Europe and the job in hand,” he said. “So we’re going to keep busy with that and I’m going to do everything in my power to deliver a winning team in Rome.”
Pressed on whether the Saudis were mentioned at his interview, he said: “Yes, the captain does sign a contract. He’s the only one that does that. Players and vice-captains don’t. Those agreements are between Ryder Cup Europe and the captain so I’m fully committed to the role.”
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The 2016 Open champion played in five Ryder Cups, scoring the winning point at the K Club in 2006, and was vice-captain in last year’s 19-9 defeat at Whistling Straits. He will take on an American team led by Zach Johnson and buoyed by such a one-sided triumph. However, home advantage has been a significant factor this century, with the only away triumphs being the European ones of 2012 and 2004. The USA’s most recent win in Europe was in 1993.
“When I started out as a professional golfer, it was beyond my wildest dreams that one day I would follow in the footsteps of legends of the game such as Seve [Ballesteros] and be the European Ryder Cup captain,” he said. “Today proves that dreams do come true.”
It had looked as though his connection to the Saudi project had put his hopes of succeeding Padraig Harrington in doubt. The DP World Tour chiefs had made it clear that the Swede needed to commit to the former European Tour if he was to get the captaincy. The strategic alliance with the PGA Tour meant that any European player wanting to jump ship was going to risk the sort of Ryder Cup ban threat issued by Seth Waugh, the chief executive of the PGA of America.
The Saudi venture has faded but not disappeared. Norman, the chief executive of LIV Golf Investments, the public front for the Saudi golf project, last month accused Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, of bullying, threatening and intimidating players. “This is just the beginning,” he said in a passionate open letter. “It is certainly not the end.”
While the sums offered by Saudis have led to allegations of greed and lack of perspective from golf’s millionaires, Stenson is known to have lost a fortune in the Allen Stanford fraud and so had more cause than some to be tempted.
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The four-man panel, comprising the three most recent captains — Harrington, Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke — and Keith Pelley, the DP World Tour chief executive, know that Stenson is well-liked. Calling himself a “players’ captain”, he said that he hoped to get Europe’s elite to the Italian Open to get a taste of the course and suggested the humbling at Whistling Straits, which left Rory McIlroy and others in tears, would be long forgotten by 2023. “We’re up for a challenge. We saw a very strong American team at Whistling Straits but we also saw that coming into Paris [in 2018].”
Stenson was not about to usher some of his generation out of the door, but he did suggest that there may be a new-look European team. “Our average age at Whistling Straits was near enough 35 and the American team had about a 26-year average,” he said. “At some point there will be a shift and I can definitely see that happening this time around [but] I can also see a few hungry veterans that want to keep their jerseys.”
His dry wit was to the fore when asked about his previous captaincy roles. “When we’ve been playing we’ve been Captain Chaos a few times,” he quipped. Had he been captain of any teams at school? “Always left back in the dressing room.”
