Stenson Crosses the Line in Race to Dubai for Second Time

HENRIK STENSON shot a final round of 65 at Jumeirah Golf Estates to finish joint ninth in the DP World Tour Championship and win the Race to Dubai for the second time in his career.

It concludes a year that the Swede will remember for the rest of his life, with the high point coming when he won The Open at Troon after a spellbinding final-round duel with Phil Mickelson.

He also won an Olympic silver medal in Rio, along with the BMW International Open in Germany and enjoyed three runners-up finishes. But spare a thought for Danny Willett. For the second year in succession, Willett spent most of the year leading the Race to Dubai before finally being overhauled. His consolation prize was, of course, a considerable one - it is not every year, after all, that you go to Augusta and win The Masters.

Stenson's victory in the Race to Dubai also secured an additional $1.25m bonus from the $5m Bonus Pool awarded to the top ten at the season's end.

Having won the Race to Dubai in 2013, Stenson becomes only the third continental European and 12th player in total to finish Number One on more than one occasion, joining a pretty impressive list that includes Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie, and Sir Nick Faldo.

“I'm very pleased to get my name on this trophy once again,” said Stenson. “It's been a great year, the best  of my career. I've always thought it was going to be hard to top 2013, but I think I've done that this year. Maybe not to the level of golf over six months, but certainly with the highlights of winning The Open, the Olympics and taking the Race to Dubai again. So it's been a great year and it feels lovely to finish in this way.”

He began the season by finishing second at  the Nedbank Golf Challenge and third in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. His first victory came in June at the BMW International Open in Munich, and it was the sign of greater things to come.

Stenson produced arguably the best performances ever seen at The Open. The Swede and Mickelson produced a final-day showdown at Royal Troon that rivalled the Duel in the Sun featuring Tom Watson and Jacklaus at Turnberry in 1977. Playing along Stenson on that unforgettable Sunday afternoon in July, Mickelson closed with a 65. It wasn't good enough because the Swede played the round of his life, reducing the course to 63 astonishing strokes of genius.

It was the lowest round by a winner, it equalled the lowest score in major history and his 264 winning total was the lowest ever in a major..

From that moment Stenson and Willett were fighting for top spot on the Race to Dubai, with Stenson edging ahead after finishing joint second in the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai and then holding on over the course of the Final Series.

Of the names on the trophy, Stenson said: “We've got Ballesteros, we've got Langer, we've got Faldo, and then of course in the later years, we're more familiar with the names who won it; and Norman is on there. It shows a lot of history. To win it once is very satisfying and to win it two times is even more. It’s been a lovely season, and it is great to top it off like this.”