Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship 2019: Power Rankings

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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – JANUARY 14: Henrik Stenson (C) of Sweden and Dustin Johnson (L) of the United States take part in a photocall for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 14, 2019 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images) /

I’ve gotten to a lot of Abu Dhabi HSBC Champions bridesmaids so far in this top ten. Henrik Stenson might be the maid of honor.

The 42-year-old Swede has played in all 12 editions of this tournament. He’s missed four cuts, but when he’s been around for the other eight times he’s usually in the mix.

Stenson has two runner-up finishes, a T3 and a pair of eighth-place finishes each of the past two years.

Between 2017 and 2018, Stenson owns rounds of 64-71-71-69 and 70-68-70-65 that combine for 28-under par.

Stenson should be well-rested coming into this event. Though partially due to injury, he played just 20 times in 2018, his lowest in a calendar year since 2000.

His last appearance was a solo 17th at the Hero World Challenge in mid-December. Stenson missed just two cuts during the year, won the Wyndham Championship and contended against an elite field at the WGC-HSBC Champions in the fall (T2).

Stenson hit the ball incredibly last season on the PGA Tour. He led both in driving accuracy (75.19 percent) and greens in regulation (73.51). He was first in strokes gained approaching the green and fifth tee to green. His short game and putting ranked outside the top 100.

He should know these greens pretty well by now and was able to work his way near the top 20 in the field in putting each of the last two years. Roll in a few more and he’ll finally be ready for his trophy.

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