Hadley cards flawless 64 to grab the 54-hole lead

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NASSAU, Bahamas – It must have been a peculiar sight, the man in the blindfold hitting golf shots on the driving range at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai. But for Henrik Stenson, the very object of the exercise was to go without any kind of sight at all. He wanted total darkness, to really feel his mechanics, all the better to rediscover his swing. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Stenson’s bag? It was the winter of 2002—03, and he was mired in his first of two horrific slumps. “It’s mental, it’s technical— does the chicken or the egg come first?â€� he said in a lengthy interview with PGATOUR.COM a few days before winning the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Club on Saturday. “The first five times you’re looking for a provisional when you hit it into the forest or the hazards or out of bounds or whatever, you’re not thinking too much about it. “But you do that enough,â€� he added, “and you stand there and you’re not looking down the fairway anymore. You’re looking at what’s over there and what’s over there, and now it’s a problem.â€� Stenson, 43, shot a final-round 66 to win the Hero on a sun-splashed afternoon at Albany. His topsy-turvy back nine included a 30-foot par save on the par-5 11th hole and a tap-in eagle at the par-5 15th. He made three pars to secure the unofficial victory by one over Jon Rahm (66), marking Stenson’s first trophy of any kind since the 2017 Wyndham Championship. Patrick Reed (66) finished third and was the top American of the 11 U.S. players here whose 8 p.m. charter flight out of Nassau was bound for Melbourne and the Presidents Cup. Stenson and his wife, Emma, were left to celebrate the win in this vacation paradise with family friends from Lake Nona. “It’s been a very average season,â€� he said, “but it finished on a high.â€� Perhaps it was the presence of tournament host Tiger Woods (69, solo fourth), or the fall play of Brendon Todd (two straight wins and nearly a third), but it was hard not to take Stenson’s win as yet another reminder of the value of resilience, and the multitude of comeback stories in golf. “In this game,â€� said Emma Stenson, a former Swedish national junior team member who played collegiately for South Carolina, “you never know what’s around the corner.â€� Or, as Woods said of Stenson, “He completely lost his game there for a while and couldn’t hit it on the map. … The way that Henrik has fought his way back, the countless hours he’s hit golf balls to figure it out – there aren’t a lot of guys who lose their golf swing and come back.â€� Stenson’s ball-striking was solid, as usual, but not without flaw in the final round. His putter saved him. Unlikely pars on 11 and 14 kept him going, and a long two-putt on 18 salted away the win. Rahm, the European Tour’s recent Race to Dubai winner, was left to lament the close call and said that without scoreboards he didn’t know he was a shot behind coming up the last hole. “I played it 20 feet short of the pin thinking I was at least tied for the lead,â€� he said. Still, if he had to rate this season, Rahm said, he would give it a 9 out of 10. Stenson was not so kind in assessing his own recent play. He finished 90th in the FedExCup last season, and 57th in 2018. (The Hero win comes with no FedExCup points.) “I haven’t played to more than 75% of my capacity in the last couple years,â€� he said. He had an elbow injury, but that only set him back a few months. It just wasn’t clicking, but he kept working at it with his longtime swing coach, Pete Cowen, and mental coach, Torsten Hansson. After a T44 at the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Championship two weeks ago, Stenson decamped for the driving range with Cowen and worked for a couple of hours. Slowly, his tee-to-green game began to come back to him, setting his mind at ease for his trip to the Bahamas. Persistence has always been the Stenson way – through his first slump, which ended with a victory at the 2004 Heritage, a European Tour event at Woburn Golf Club, and his second slump in 2011. Well, almost always. There was one time, he admitted, that he uttered the Q word. As in quit.  “I think we were at the kitchen table at home back in Sweden,â€� Emma said, “but it’s not an option to quit when you have the talent he has. He’s just always had to work hard at it; he’s not like some of the boys who just go out there and it happens for them.â€� Stenson’s work ethic is the stuff of legend. At 18 and as one of Sweden’s most promising juniors, he was told to put weights in his backpack and go out and walk six to ten miles. “I guess I was one of the few who did it, if not the only one,â€� he said with a rueful smile. Not that he’s sure what it accomplished. As for wearing a blindfold back in 2002—03? “It was really to free up – if you take away the vision, one of the senses, then you’ve got to rely more on the other ones,â€� he said. “So, that was helpful. I’ll still wear it sometimes for putting.â€� Henrik and Emma and the kids would be back in Orlando soon enough, with Stenson playing more Santa than golf. He’s a big goal-setter, Emma said, but also a trickster who loves to get up to a bit of fun. When the calendar turns to 2020, it’ll be time to think about more PGA TOUR wins (he has six), more majors, a berth in the Tokyo Olympic Games and a sixth Ryder Cup berth. That’s a lot to play for, and the man in the blindfold is liking what he’s seeing.

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It’s the 100th anniversary of the Valero Texas Open, and the big-time milestone will feature a big-time field led by former FedExCup champions Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. Spieth is also the defending champion at TPC San Antonio. His win at last season’s Valero Texas Open marked his first victory on TOUR since 2017. FIELD NOTES: Rory McIlroy will tee it up the week prior to the Masters for the first time in eight years. McIlroy finished second behind Martin Laird at this event in 2013 … Bryson DeChambeau is set to play the Valero Texas Open for the first time since 2017 (MC). DeChambeau had an early exit from the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play and continues to recover from injuries that kept him off the TOUR for more than a month-and-a-half … Hideki Matsuyama returns to action before his Masters title defense. Matsuyama withdrew from THE PLAYERS Championship due to injury … Twenty upcoming Masters participants are playing at TPC San Antonio. Some of the Masters first-timers who are also Valero first-timers include Garrick Higgo, Takumi Kanaya, Min Woo Lee and Robert MacIntyre … University of Oklahoma star Logan McAllister and Texas Tech’s Ludvig Aberg are among the sponsor exemptions. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course), 7,438 yards, par 72. The course plays host to the Valero Texas Open for the 13th time. Featuring just 100 feet of elevation, the Oaks Course boasts a traditional design that balances wider fairways with narrower tree-lined fairways for strategic options to the greens. The downhill holes play into the prevailing wind, while uphill holes play downwind. All greens and tees have been treated with Poa trivialis grass in preparation for the Valero Texas Open. STORYLINES: If the winner of the Valero Texas Open is not yet qualified for the Masters, he’ll earn the final spot in the field. The last time this happened was in 2019 when Corey Conners captured his maiden TOUR title and secured the last spot in the first men’s major of the year. Conners Monday qualified into TPC San Antonio that week … Among those not yet eligible to compete at Augusta National is Rickie Fowler, who missed the Masters in 2021 for the first time since 2010 … Plenty of star power will be on hand for the 100th anniversary of the Valero Texas Open including previous champs Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and past TOUR commissioner Deane Beman (who won the event in 1969) … Jordan Spieth is looking to become the first back-to-back Valero Texas Open winner since Zach Johnson in 2008-09 … Can Charley Hoffman continue his very good play at the Valero? Hoffman is the event’s overall money leader and added to his total a year ago with a runner-up result. He also finished runner-up in 2019 and hasn’t missed a cut in 15 starts. 72-HOLE RECORD: 254, Tommy Armour III (2003 at La Cantera). TPC San Antonio record: 268, Corey Conners (2019). 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Bart Bryant (Round 3, 2004 at La Cantera), Zach Johnson (Round 3, 2009 at La Cantera). TPC San Antonio record: 62, Trey Mullinax (Round 3, 2018) LAST TIME: Jordan Spieth returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since the 2017 Open Championship – a drought of 83 PGA TOUR starts. Spieth closed with a 6-under 66 to defeat Charley Hoffman by two shots. He was tied with Matt Wallace through 54 holes but quickly started to separate himself after a birdie on the par-5 second and knocking his tee shot on the par-3 third to just 2 feet. He cruised home with three birdies on the back nine. It was Spieth’s 12th victory on TOUR and the culmination of ascendant form that spring. The win marked his sixth top-15 finish in seven starts (he would add a T3 at the Masters). Despite an opening 75 and a T95 position on Thursday night, Hoffman would bounce back with rounds of 66-65-66 to finish runner-up. Wallace finished third, Lucas Glover finished fourth, and Anirban Lahiri finished fifth: HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 1 p.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.–7 p.m. ET. Saturday, 3 p.m.–6 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m.–6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes

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