PGA Tour: Arnold Palmer Invitational

 

I expect Henrik Stenson (pictured post knee surgery at the end of 2015) to go well this week. He played solidly in Florida last year and should have won this tournament, trading as low as 1.11 in the final round, but ultimately having to settle for second, one of four runner up spots he registered in 2015. That is starting to get a little worrying (perhaps less so for his bank manager with career earnings of $42m) and the 39 yo Swede will want to register another win soon. He actually turns 40 in three weeks time, I have spoken a lot in the past about how golfers sometimes struggle (like many of us) in the build up to these milestone birthdays and they can often find the years in which they are 29 and 39 tough, but once they have passed and life goes on as before, form quickly returns and that might have been the case with Stenson. Not that his form has been terrible in the last 12 months, he has played 20 US events since the beginning of last year and made the cut in all 20 (actually he has not missed a cut in over two years and some 32 Tour events), he finished top 25 in 70% of those, top ten in 40% and that is consistency personified. He has also played two European Tour events this season finishing T3 and T6 .
 

He was a promising T11th at the Valspar Championship last week, finishing -1 for the tournament on a tough course, he was -9 on the Par 5's, you could argue that he struggled on the other holes, but Par 5 scoring has always been key to his performance and to him playing well and I take that as a significant and positive sign that he is heading in the right direction.He first played Bay Hill in 2007 and finished 22nd, he did not visit again until 2010, but has played and improved every single year since, finishing 52-47-15-8-5-2 and if that trend continues, he has only one place left to go ! Stenson lives in Orlando and his house is about a 20 minute drive from the Bay Hill complex and he is effectively playing a home game this week, since moving to Florida from Dubai, he has never finished outside the top ten in this event and I expect that to continue and for him to go very close this week,
 

If he doesn't win, first event after his 40th birthday party is the US Masters !

 

0.5 units Henrik Stenson to win outright 13.0-15.0 general quote.