Confidence Run Amok

Confidence Run Amok


At his best, Henrik Stenson was fearless.We saw that in the first round of the WGC-CA Championship two years ago when he stripped to his underwear at Doral and played a shot out of the muck at the third hole.Practically naked, he still looked invincible, a man who believed he could beat anyone anywhere at any time.Stenson did just that in his torrid run back then. He beat Ernie Els by a shot and Tiger Woods by two shots winning the Dubai Desert Classic in 2007. He beat match-play dynamo Geoff Ogilvy in the finals of the WGC-Accenture Championship that same year. He beat Pete Dyes diabolical TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course and golfs deepest field at The Players Championship in 2009. serie de fer golf After winning here, Stenson moved to No. 4 in the world rankings.It was a terrific climb, but it made for a hard fall.The charismatic Swede arrives for this weeks Players Championship ranked 107th in the world.Hes gone from invincible to nearly invisible, at least on leaderboards and even in The Players media guide, where he was inadvertently left out of the player capsules this year.Ive been going through quite a long slump, said Stenson, 35. Ive been struggling, technically and mentally, but I feel like Im starting to pick the bones out, and Im heading in the right direction.Thats Stenson, good humored with a brave face, wading into the muck to play the shot thats been handed to him.Playing practically naked, however, is a lot harder than playing figuratively naked. driver golf pas cher Stenson moved to world No. 4 after winning The Players in 2009. Strip a man of his trust in his golf swing, strip him of his confidence and much of his life savings, and the muck is more difficult to escape.I think weve bottomed out, says Pete Cowen, Stensons swing coach. You might not see it right away, but give it time. If its not this week or next week, it will be soon.What happened to Stenson?Why did his game get sideways?There are a lot of reasons, Cowen said.A decade ago, Stensons swing inexplicably left him. He became so desperate and confused sinking to 176th on the European Tours Order of Merit, he resorted to hitting shots with his eyes closed. He got so wayward back then, he walked off the course in the middle of a tour event because he couldnt keep his ball in bounds. golf bois Stenson fought back from that to become a dominant player. He rebuilt his swing with Cowens help. Stensons not nearly as sideways now as he was back then.Whats happened this time?A swing flaw crept Stensons game at the end of 09. Last year, he contracted a mycoplasma virus in his lungs, plaguing him for two months of the summer.But back before all of that, there was the Stanford Financial scandal.Stenson was among the many victims when that news hit early in 09.