Henrik Stenson wins the final Hero Challenge in Dubai
The 2016 Open Championship winner shone from the word go at Atlantis, The Palm
Henrik Stenson won the final Hero Challenge of the 2018 European Tour season ahead of this week’s DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, the Ryder Cup star overcoming the European Tour’s most recent champion Lee Westwood in an exciting finale.
The 2016 Open Championship winner shone from the word go at Atlantis, The Palm, on Tuesday evening, scoring an incredible 190 points to top Group Two before seeing off his Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood in the semi-final.
And he took that momentum and consistency into the final where he beat Westwood 105-85, finding the floating target with each of his five balls to secure the trophy. It could have been a different story for Westwood, who won his 24th European Tour title last week at the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, as hit the pin with his fourth shot and watched on as his ball bounced away from the central 50 point zone and to the outer five point zone.
For Swede Stenson, it was a perfect end to an enjoyable occasion at the glamourous venue on Dubai’s famous Palm Jumeirah.
“I guess that’s my first individual victory of 2018 and maybe I’ve reached that stage where I’ll take any victory,” joked Stenson. “It was good fun out there and it’s always good fun with that friendly banter, especially the first ten shots when it’s rapid fire.
“I was watching the guys and a few of them struggled to get all ten shots out there, and I sent off three in rapid fire and didn’t even know where they were landing until I heard ’50 points, 50 points’, so I guess I was dialled in!
“I was lucky to get off to a good start and I got the yardage dialled in with that 54 degree and started hitting and I got a bit lucky against Lee where he hit the pin and it bounced back to five points. I managed to fend him off.
“It is good that we had this on the Tuesday night, we can have some fun and relax and no one feels like they have to up at five in the morning. It’s a great set-up and there are a lot of familiar faces being back here in Dubai so it’s enjoyable.”
