2013 Golf: Henrik Stenson Questionable For The BMW Masters

Henrik Stenson wants to be the first golfer ever, to win both the FedEx Cup Championship on the PGA Tour, and The Race To Dubai Championship on the European Tour, but there is a problem. The 37 year-old Swede started to feel some pain in his right wrist while practicing in Florida last week, and the pain continued during his flight to Shanghai where he will start his quest at the BMW Masters in Shanghai, China this week. 

With the pain continuing during practice at the Lake Malaren Golf Course in Shanghai, Stenson will be getting an MRI to see if they can locate the problem with his arm. You might remember, he was having some problems during the playoff run back in September. Something to do with punching a locker in Boston, and destroying his driver.

There was speculation that he would have some problems at the Tour Championship, but he continued to hit fairways and laser guided irons at East Lake where he won both the Tour Championship, and the FedEx Cup.

The number four ranked player in the world has a 430,000 Euro lead over Race to Dubai number two, Graeme McDowell, with number three, US Open Champion, Justin Rose not far behind. There is a little slack with Richard Sterne and Matteo Manassero in fourth and fifth place respectfully, but will need at least one good performance in the four tournament run to lock up the trophy, and all of the money.

"“It’s four big weeks coming up starting here at the BMW Masters,” he said. “There’s a lot of points and money up for grabs in these events. It’s only one top finish from any one of the guys or a couple of the guys behind me to catch me or move beyond.“So I’m just going to focus on my game and try to have some good weeks and hopefully I can get one really good week out of these four and that should hopefully give me a shot at the overall title by the time the four weeks have finished."

With the start of the BMW Masters, I had been looking forward to learning two things. Could Henrik Stenson come off the long layoff, and continue his dominance on the European Tour, and is there a chance Rory McIlroy could become a factor before the end of the year? It would be a shame if  Stenson arrives in China without his “A Game”.

As a fan, I have rooted Henrik Stenson all year, and would love to see him win it all this year. The BMW Masters gets underway on Thursday and will signal the start of the Race To Dubai playoffs that will end the 2013 season. The strong field of European Tour players should provide some great golf all the way through to Dubai next month. Let’s tee it high and let it fly!

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