FedEx Cup Power Rankings: Top ten at The Northern Trust
There’s peaking at the right time, and then there’s what Henrik Stenson has done late this summer. Stenson made a statement by winning the Wyndham Championship, holding off Ollie Schniederjans by a single stroke for the victory.
It was Stenson’s first win anywhere since last year’s Open Championship classic with Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon. Just two months ago, though, you wouldn’t have seen it coming.
Correction, it simply would have been an awful pick back then. After missing the cut at Erin Hills, Stenson was sliding, having missed five cuts in six starts on the PGA TOUR.
So what did he do? Stenson went back to Europe and started preparing to defend the Claret Jug. A tie for 10th at the BMW International Open started things going in the right direction again. A tie for 11th at The Open showed that Stenson wasn’t far off anymore, and he ran off another pair of top-25 finishes at Firestone and Quail Hollow.
Stenson is well aware of what he’s got ahead of him, and that played into his strategy at Sedgefield.
"“It’s certainly a good time to start firing,” Stenson said. “We know the kind of damage you can do in the playoffs. … If you get hot and keep on playing well, you have a chance to challenge.”"
He’s got the first part down – now let’s see if he can keep on playing well. Don’t sleep on Stenson’s chances as long as he’s still in the Playoffs.