Joining LIV has changed his career. But openness feels like the past

Portrush of Northern Ireland – At the beginning of the Liv era, Tiger and some of his Florida travel partners, in the cocoon of their closed lives, had cheeky, slightly mean people: Except Brooksey (Brooks Koepka) and DJ (Dustin Johnson)Who do you actually miss?

Well, this guy: Henrik Stenson, healthy, 49, is the 2016 British Open champion (in a Sunday shootout with future Liv Golfer Phil Mickelson), who was once captained by Europe’s 2023 Ryder Cup. liv ends this. Stenson is one of four former open champions on the Royals’ depiction field and is now playing for Liv. You might say amazing, Mickelson (70, one in the first round), Cameron Smith (72) and Louis Oosthuizen (77). Stenson signed 75.

He played the first round while soaking. Legendary Fanny Sunesson retired this week on the Atlantic Ocean, doing his best to keep him dry. When Sunesson won the 2009 Player Championship, he won the game for Stenson. Plus, for Nick Faldo, he won two of the three masters championships. Sunesson is now a psychology coach with only one very occasional caddie, working for Stenson this week and earlier this month at LIV events in Dallas, at 95 degrees in the shadows. She and Stenson speak Swedish in the course, many of them.

This is also the native language of Sunesson. She played amateur golf in Sweden with the Sorenstein sisters. These two points are opportunities you don’t know (I looked it up), and are called Umlaut. Sunesson is as precise as Stenson is loose. They were fun, and on Thursday, Sunesson Angling Stenson’s huge Callaway umbrella was like that to land the rain on the boss’s golf ball while preparing the putt. But no. law!

“Management is a lot there,” Stenson said Thursday afternoon. “The rain is coming, you are trading towels for umbrellas, the rough expenses will absorb your expenses, you are trying to keep the grip. Thank goodness. Dryyes.

I looked for Stenson because I wanted to share an Arnold Nuggets with him. He argued several times during the March Championships held by Arnold Palmer in Bay Hill and lived nearby. Stenson fought for the game one year, and his group repeatedly warned of their pace of play. No one would call Stenson a slow player. Stenson (very funny) said: “I was playing with Bryson.”

Bryson DeChambeau was an annoying, distracted slow player when he played in the PGA Tour. Stenson never won the game. DeChambeau did it in 2021. A lot of changes have occurred since then. DeChambeau opened 77 in Porthush.

Nuggets: Arnold liked the British Open (he called it) and won twice in 1961 and 62. He likes old lessons and St Andrews. He likes to watch it on TV. (More running, low-flying shots, less chat.) For Arnold, there are indeed three majors. (He won four Masters, two openings, one U.S. Open. He never won a PGA title and had a certain lifelong ambivalence about the U.S. PGA.) The last Grand Slam he watched with a strong, ongoing interest was the Open in Troon in 2016. He watched at his home in Latrobe with his close friend Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania governor and one of his two grandchildren, today a good amateur golfer and an assistant golf coach at Loyola University in Maryland. On Sunday, on the perfect summer day of Scottish summer, Stenson and Mickelson were glued to the last two.

“He’s taking root for Stenson,” Will told me recently. “He’s invested. Not asleep. Food is coming. He’s not missing a shot. He loves Stenson’s shots. I think he wants the guy who doesn’t win more professionally than him in danger.” Mickelson had five majors at the time and six now. Mickelson competed in 16 APIs and won the competition in 1997, but did not compete in 2016, and Arnold kept noticing this absence. But the biggest thing is Phil’s threat to Arnold’s final number: Lucky 7.

“I don’t know, it’s so good,” Stenson said Thursday. “I always regret that I never won Arnold’s game and never really knew him except to say hello.” Stenson played in all five games in the 2016 Ryder Cup. Arnold Palmer died on September 25 at the age of 87.

When Stenson went to Liv, the European golf power stripped him of the captain of the 2023 Ryder Cup. As is now ruled, although DP World Tour bans LIV players, he will play in next year’s British Senior Open, which shares senior events with R&A. But he able Playing in the British Open until he was 60 years old. This is strange, but it’s golf these days.

On Thursday’s 12 par, with a row of upscale mobile homes on the hill to the left of the fairway, Stenson hit a bad drive, second, bad second, bad third and a good lag putt, hiding under his umbrella between the cameras. You’ll give the advantage five to get a golf ball in a faraway hole and as long as there are no free throws, they’ll be 99 out of 100 times.

After completion, Stenson talked to a Swedish reporter for 20 minutes. Without the Liv Stockholm event, sports writers and broadcasters in Stenson’s homeland would not see him often. He is not talking about what happens when he is 50. For now, he didn’t immediately compete in the PGA Tour title even if he wanted to do it, and his days as Liv Majestick should end. His teammates are Lee Westwood, Sam Horsfield and Ian Poulter. Arnold’s second life as a player after he was 50 years old. But that’s it. Stenson didn’t know what 50 would bring. Meanwhile, he will try to lay off employees in the 153rd Open. Anyway, his name is always on the winner’s trophy. Right there in Arnold.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments via michael.bamberger@golf.com