Delight for Henrik Stenson with Dubai golf title
Henrik Stenson has won the Race to Dubai title, confirming him as the European number one golfer for 2013.
The Swede clinched his first European player title in style by eagling the final hole for a 64 at the Jumeirah Golf Estates to win the season-ending DP World Tour Championship title by six strokes from Ian Poulter.
The 37-year-old is the first man to win the European Tour’s Race to Dubai title and the US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup title in the same season.
“It has been an incredible summer for me, the fall (autumn) in America was great and now this,” said Stenson, who was second in the Open at Muirfield and third in the US PGA Championship before his FedEx Cup victory.
“I played so well this week. I knew the guys would try to catch me, especially Ian (Poluter) who never gives up. I wanted to stay ahead of him and I managed to do that.
“I don’t know how I am going to be able to top this next year but I am going to give my best in the majors and that (to win one) would be the icing on the cake.”
Stenson, who has been in sublime form over the last six months, led the tournament from wire to wire and he started the day with a one stroke lead over France’s Victor Dubuisson.
He got off to a sound start and any lingering doubts over the result were erased when the Swede picked up further shots on the 12th and 14th to improve to 23 under par.
Poulter had not given up the fight and had also birdied the 10th and 13th, but that still left him six shots behind.
Poulter also birdied the par-three 17th to move into outright second, but it was only a matter of time before Stenson would follow in the footsteps of Rory McIlroy and get his hands on the tournament silverware and Harry Vardon Trophy as European number one.
McIlroy and the man he succeeded as European number one, Luke Donald, had both carded closing rounds of 67 to finish 15 under, while US Open champion Justin Rose returned a 70 to finish 13 under.
Rose and Graeme McDowell had been able to overtake Stenson with a victory here, but McDowell finished nine under after a final round of 71.
