With a snap, the world’s No. 2 player broke the club he was carrying, parting the shaft over his knee. And that means more than a little repair work ahead.
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Asked about it after his round, Stenson tried to shrug it off.
“I slipped,” he said. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
Yeah, right.
“They will fix it and knowing that makes it easier for us to break clubs,” he said. “It will need a bit of love after lunch.”
The incident occurred on the 17th hole while Stenson was playing with Tiger Woods. Two failed attempts to reach the green from the rough — think your everyday American cow pasture — had Stenson boiling.
And so his wedge met its demise.
Stenson is no stranger to temper tantrums, according to the British newspaper site The Telegraph. He snapped a wedge during the 2011 U.S. Open. Last year, he broke his driver before heading to the clubhouse and pummeling his locker.
Stenson finished the day at 72, on par and three strokes behind Woods.
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Golf Digest points out that Charl Schwartzl similarly broke a club last year. Maybe that’s what links golf does to normally stoic souls.
And Golf Digest’s Mike O’Malley reminded his Twitter followers: In September Golf Digest, Henrik Stenson tells @guy_yocom1: “I’ve lost count of how many drivers, fairway woods and wedges I’ve murdered.”
