PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 18, 2022

Henrik Stenson

Southern Hills Country Club

Flash Quotes

JULIUS MASON: European Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson is joining us at the 104th PGA Championship.

Welcome to your 16th PGA Championship. You've had your fair share of close misses in the PGA Championship. Does any one stand out in particular for you?

HENRIK STENSON: You want to make me cry already?

No, it's been -- other than The Open Championship, the PGA has been the major where I've been the most successful over the years. I think I got two thirds, a fourth, a sixth and another top 10. Yeah, there's been some really good tries.

And I guess the '14 one, we were certainly up there and '08, as well, by memory. Yeah, I think it's a style of golf that suits me. A lot of times emphasis on hitting fairways and greens, and that's kind of been my strong point throughout the years.

Hopefully we can give it a good week, and I'd love to put myself in contention once again here. It's been a while since we've been in contention in any tournament really. Yeah, this would be a good week to start.

JULIUS MASON: Congratulations on your appointment as European Ryder Cup Captain. Can you let us know where you are in the planning stages or is it still too far away?

HENRIK STENSON: No, it's about 500 days away, and we'd better make use of those 500 days. I've got a big and strong team around me, my own personal team that works together with Ryder Cup Europe, and there's a lot of wheels that are spinning at the moment. A lot of things in planning. And I'm heading down to Rome in a couple of weeks' time for the first site visit. We have a busy couple of days ahead of us there.

It's already started, and a lot of fun processes. It's a very big honor, obviously, to be named the captain and to get to lead the European team on home soil next September.

We're going to try and do everything we can to be well prepared and ready.

JULIUS MASON: We know the first week of October will be the Ryder Cup Year-to-Go activities, and we know you and your counterpart, Zach Johnson, will be there doing a lot of fun things.

Q. You mentioned you had a lot of wheels spinning. Can you talk about any secrets to possible changes to qualifying periods, wildcards, more captains, that sort of thing?

HENRIK STENSON: Captain's picks you mean.

Q. I called them wildcards, but call them what you'd like.

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, there are quite a few things in the works, but it will be announced in due course in not too far distant future here. I can't really spill the beans on that today, but there will be some changes. That's what we're working towards. We need to have that approved and ready to go, discussions with the Tour and everyone involved.

There will be one or two little surprises maybe down the road, so stay tuned.

Q. Would it be fair to say that having the last qualifying event as the BMW PGA last year didn't work; it was too close to Whistling Straits?

HENRIK STENSON: I think that was kind of the general feeling among players, and especially we've gone through some bumpy times here with COVID. And our qualification process got kind of halted and then it started again and we had points multipliers, and BMW being a Rolex Series event and a big points tournaments with the multiplier and so on, there was a lot of potential outcomes very, very late in the process.

I think we learned from that, and we're going to do it slightly different this time around.

Q. You noted how you've come close in this tournament a few times. I'm wondering after Phil won it at 50, at 46, does that kind of create any new sense of optimism for you this week?

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I've got four more years to prepare, I guess.

Yeah, that was certainly for us guys who are a little bit on the older side, of course that's great to see Phil winning at 50 last year and give that inspiration that it's certainly not too late.

As we know, there's a lot of things contributing in this game. We see the younger generation, the kind of firepower they have off the tee and the distances, but there's more to it than just distance. No matter what your age, if you play your best game and you use all that experience and mental abilities and everything else, you can certainly be up there and win even at a later age and maybe when you don't have quite the same distance as the 23-year-olds of today.

It was certainly inspiring and good to see.

Q. I think Zach is going off in the group in front of you; is there any back-and-forth between you guys at all this week?

HENRIK STENSON: Maybe all of a sudden I can find 20 yards. (Laughter).

No, I've known and played against him, with Zach, my whole career. My first Ryder Cup in Ireland in 2006 I played together with Padraig at a better-ball match. It was Zach and I think Scott Verplank, and Zach played unbelievably well and certainly gave me a beating there. I'm looking forward to trying to return that favor in Rome.

Q. There's obviously endless talk about the Saudi series at the moment. What is the situation regards the Ryder Cup? Are you able to enlighten us as to players and whether they're going to be eligible, sanctions, that sort of thing?

HENRIK STENSON: No, not really. The release policies are certainly between the individuals and the Tour, and not something I'm involved in. The same goes for the rest of it. I've got no information to share with you on that end. I would refer those questions to the Tour.

Q. Obviously it's a long time since Southern Hills hosted the PGA in 2007. Any memories of that week, or what have you found coming back to the course?

HENRIK STENSON: I definitely remember the hottest major in history. It was brutal. It was so hot, especially down on that range. It was being in a sauna down there.

I was feeling it a little bit on Sunday when I went down there and it was starting to feel kind of the same way, but luckily the cooler temperatures have rolled in, and it looks to be a very nice week weather-wise.

Golf course changed a bit. There seems to be quite a few trees have been cleared out and different kind of looks at the playing surfaces, more kind of open style in some fairways between holes that are now going together other than them being the more classical rough and tree-lined and thicker rough on the sides.

It will play a little different, but ultimately it's fairly long, at least certainly some of the holes are pretty long, and the green complexes are fairly small and sits towards you. And just the slopiness of the greens is going to make the putting quite tricky and not unusual with the same kind of -- at Augusta you're going to have very quick downhill putts, and once you turn around you've got very slow uphill putts.

It's just on the challenging side with the putting. I think that's just getting the speed right and being able to cope with those differences. You could have three uphill putts three holes in a row, and ow all of a sudden you've got a slick downhill putt on the fourth hole.

But the game plan on my end would be fairways and greens as much as possible, try and leave yourself underneath the hole, and the more easy pars or birdie chances you can give yourself in a major championship, the better it is and the better you're going to do.

With my own game, I feel like striking is moving in the right direction, and also the putting. So I'll keep chipping away and see what we can do.

Q. What kind of clubs have you been hitting into the two par-5s? Is there any chance of getting there in two or would they have to move the tees up to do that?

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, on 5 yesterday we had a slight bit of help, and I hit a good drive and a good 3-wood and I was up in the greenside trap. I think that one is maybe 650.

Yeah, if you can influence the course setup to move the tees up on 15 that would be perfect for that 3-wood to be middle of the green.

As always, we're going to see certain holes being moved around a little bit, particularly the par-5s, and maybe 17, as well, might be an up tee one or two of the days to give the players the opportunity to go for the green. I'm sure we're going to see that being played around a little bit with.

Q. I wondered, which are the two most interesting holes do you think out there?

HENRIK STENSON: Ooh, they're all interesting. I think in terms of golf course design and so on, I like a drivable par-4, so I think 17, come Sunday, with the tee up and reachable maybe with a 3-wood, then that certainly gives the opportunity for something extra to happen.

You could see someone laying up and maybe hitting not the best wedge shot, and might struggle to make par and someone hit a great 3-wood to 20 feet and have a good look for eagle. Those are the holes where a lot of things can happen and a lead can change hands. I'll put in 17 for sure.

It's funny, though, I wouldn't say I kind of look at a golf course that way, which holes would be the most interesting ones. I think both 9 and 18 -- 18 is a tough one, as well, to finish off. If you need a 4 up 18, we've seen that in the past in the history of this golf course, and that you'd hope that you feel like it should be a two-putt, all of a sudden isn't. Those greens both on 9 and 18 are quite tricky. It's a tough one to finish. If you need a par to win, we know that's a tough one. So interesting finish.

Q. When you accepted the captaincy, it took longer than normal for the decision to be made. I was curious, specifically, did you have to guarantee that you wouldn't be playing with LIV Golf during the time that you're European captain? Was there any formal discussion about that? Did you have to sign something?

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I think if you look at the announcement of the European Captain over the last two, three times, there hasn't really been a set time for when that has been announced. It's been, I think, anything from December to February to January to March. It's been kind of a little bit all over the place within the same time frame. I don't know if there's anything to read into that.

There is a captain's agreement that's been signed between the captain and the European Tour or the DP World Tour, or Ryder Cup Europe is probably the most correct counterpart. What's in the contract is within that contract and not something I can really disclose at this point.

Q. You have already recruited Thomas Björn as your vice captain. It looks a little bit like Paris again and what happened there. Are you thinking about other vice captains, maybe Olazábal?

HENRIK STENSON: I mean, it's music to my ears already. If you already think it's looking like Paris, we were very happy with Paris, and if we can get close to Paris again already, 500 days out, it's certainly lined up very nicely.

But delighted to have Thomas accept as my vice captain, my first vice captain, and he's got a world of experience both as a player, as a vice captain, and mainly as the winning captain of our 2018 Ryder Cup team.

I'm going to depend on him for a lot of good and healthy discussions on decision making and use his experience in the lead-up to Rome, so very happy to have him on board.

In terms of others, there might be something, but I will let you know in due course if there's any more vice captain announcements on the horizon. But as for now, we'll stay with Thomas and I'll work with him for the time being.

Q. This is something for every captain maybe every time, but for the next 500 years, how do you combine being a captain to being competitive and training and playing in tournaments?

HENRIK STENSON: Did you say 500 days or 500 years?

Q. 500 days.

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I was afraid, I thought 500 years. I didn't sign up for that long.

Q. That's not in the contract that you were saying?

HENRIK STENSON: No, it's not 500 years. (Laughter).

That is for certain. I'm depending a lot on Ryder Cup Team Europe and my own team to help me out as much in this process. I'm very confident with the people I have working together with me on this mission, and the better work we can do together in planning and so on, the more time I can have for my own golf game.

As you know, I'm very much an active player and I'm trying to make birdies and put myself in good positions on the golf course and in the golf tournaments.

Yeah, we are doing the best we can. I'm sure it will be occupying my mind a bit more than I would like to at times. I think that's me as a person. I want to do a good job. I want to be there for the players, making sure that we've done everything we can in preparation.

It will take up a lot of time, but it's fun time. And I think in terms of energy, it also gives you a bit of a boost when you're doing things that you really enjoy and that are fun rather than feeling like it saps energy out of you.

It's going to be an interesting journey, and we're going to do everything we can to get the side result in Rome and for me to be able to perform as well as I can along the journey, as well.

Q. In Norway we have jokes about the Norwegians, the Swedes and the Danes and I guess you have similar jokes in Sweden. You've already chosen Thomas Björn as your vice captain, and there's a good chance that Viktor Hovland will be in your team. How do you think about such a Scandinavian trio and how important can Viktor be for your European team?

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I'm not sure if you want to hear the jokes we make with Norwegians in Sweden so I'll leave that part out. (Laughter.)

No, I think Viktor is a fantastic young player and person. Happy to have gotten to know him over the last two, three years really, and I certainly have high hopes for him, of course both making the team and being there as a strong foundation for not just this team but for teams to come past Rome.

I'm sure Thomas and Viktor and myself can work out a way to be friends just for that one week and put together a real nice Scandinavian mix to the Ryder Cup in Rome.

Yeah, happy to follow Viktor's progress, and we're going to make that work really well. No need to worry.

Q. Since the captaincy was announced, I'm wondering in a setting like this or anywhere, casual conversations with other players, is it all about the Ryder Cup right now, whether it's European players or Americans who are -- bragging rights or anything like that?

HENRIK STENSON: Actually the U.S. Team have not been bragging too much. I think they're just happy with the outcome. We haven't had much chat about that.

Yes, for me, I'm in a different position now. I feel the responsibility of trying to get to know a few players that I haven't really had the chance to spend time with over the years, some of the older players from Europe, I know them very well. We played and traveled together for the last 15, 20 years.

But there are some new players on the European side that I don't know that well, and I will try over these next six months to a year to get to know them a little bit because there's certainly chances that a few of them will be on the team.

The same goes for some of the guys over on this side, Seamus Power, Sepp Straka, a few others that I haven't really -- played maybe a round of golf with them over the last couple years but that's about it, so I'll try and get to know them, as well, because they're also on the potential list, of course.

Yeah, the more players I can know at an early stage, I think the better it is.

Q. When you lead Europe to a glorious victory next year, where on your body are you going to have the winning score tattooed?

HENRIK STENSON: There's a reason why I brought in Thomas. He knows where to find those spots, and I'm sure he can -- he's got room for another one, doesn't he.

Q. You're going to use him as sort of a dummy?

HENRIK STENSON: Yep, a tattooed vice captain.