Albany, Bahamas 07 December 2019: The decks were cleared very early in the final round of the Hero World Challenge. Overnight leader Gary Woodland abdicated his perch at the top with a horrid start, conceding four strokes between the second and fourth holes. That left the stage to Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas and Henrik Stenson, the three men producing plenty of drama down the stretch. In the end it was the Swede, who extinguished a lengthy drought, to win a handsome victory with a final round 66, one ahead of defending champion Jon Rahm.
Starting with Woodland at the top of the day, Stenson, Rahm, Woods and Justin Thomas all had a scent of the lead, before the Swede shut the door with a rasping eagle at the 15th hole. Stenson flew a 5-wood near the foot of the cup, leaving himself barely five inches to secure an invaluable one-stroke advantage with only three holes left to play.
Woodland slipped into the swale at the third, twice attempting to climb up the green. Eventually, he would take 40 strokes for the front nine, effectively killing any chance of being in contention for victory. Tiger Woods made three birdies in five holes, coasting through the front nine in just 32 strokes. The contrast on the scorecards of Woods and Woodland could not have been more stark.
Despite a bogey at the ninth, Stenson played well enough to accumulate three birdies – one at the first and consecutive birdies at seven and eight. Birdies at the 10th and 13th helped make amends too and the Swede was tied for the lead with Jon Rahm. Stenson had five holes to play, while the Spaniard was ahead with only three left to play.
Meanwhile, Thomas’s ball hung on the edge of the cup at the 14th as he tried to extract the shot he lost at the previous hole. The CJ Cup winner was just one back at 15-under at this stage. A bogey at the 14th pushed Woods back into a tie for fourth with Patrick Reed, who climbed up the order on three birdies between the 10th and 15th holes. Reed and Rahm, playing together, made birdies at the 16th. That helped the American to within two strokes off the lead, held by Rahm at 17-under.
Further behind in the stakes, Justin Rose and Kevin Kisner wrapped up their week with a brilliant 65 on their cards. Rose was 13-under for the week while Kisner finished just one stroke behind the Englishman. Even as Rahm left himself a tricky par putt on the par-3 17th hole, Reed inched within a stroke of Rahm with a third straight birdie.
The Hero World Challenge was the 50th start for Stenson since winning the Wyndham Championship in August 2017, the waiting has been tiresome. The Swede jumped into the lead with an eagle on the 15th, moving to 18-under, one stroke of ahead of Rahm.
“I made a couple of birdies on 7 and 8 and then I ran into some trouble off the tee on 9 and bogeyed 9. So it was okay, but I think I was trailing by one at that point or something,” reflected Stenson. “Then good birdie on 10 and then was in trouble on 11. Made a bomb for par. Good birdie putt I made on 13, then I had to scramble again hard on 14. Then hit a 5-wood to about four inches on 15, so that put me one ahead.
“And walking down 16, I saw that Jon had finished 17 under, I thought, or if he was playing the last. Yeah, I kind of had it all there in front of me. Three pars would most likely close the deal. So yeah, managed to do that, hit some solid shots. And it’s never easy to two-putt from, I
don’t know, 40 feet, 45 feet up the last, but I hit a really good first putt there to make it easy. Yeah, happy with the way I closed out the tournament.”
Woods might have fallen out of contention, but he had one more moment, when he stuck his tee shot at the 17th right at the flag, leaving just a short putt for birdie. But it wasn’t to be his day and it slipped around the edge of the cup to keep Woods rooted at 14-under. Thomas promised much, but he lost his mojo on the final two holes, a double bogey on the 18th dropping him one behind Woods.
Around the time, Rahm and Reed went indoors with a 66 to their name. This was the third 66 of the week for Reed and he will ruminate over what may have been considering his miserable 74 on Friday, which included a rules infringement that cost him two strokes. Reed finished the week at 16-under par, one behind Rahm. The Spaniard came tantalisingly close to defending his title, but he can walk away holding arms with his bride into a much awaited marriage next week.
Now it was left to Stenson to bring his lead home with just two holes left to play. And he did just that, playing safely right off the 18th tee, far away from the water that consumed Thomas’s ball. After launching a good iron shot, Stenson two putted from around 40 feet to close out a much needed victory.
