Sweden’s Henrik Stenson ended his BMW Masters with a stirring seven under par 65 but found himself upstaged by Portugal’s Ricardo Santos who shot a 64 in superb conditions on the Lake Malaren course in suburban Shanghai.
Santos holed a 9-iron shot from the fairway for eagle and then one-putted his closing three holes for a total of just 24 putts in his round.
Stenson had arrived in Shanghai struggling with a right forearm injury that saw him play just the Pro-Am heading into the $7m event.
Ricardo Santos with his European Tour victory trophy. (Photo – www.europeantour.com)
The affable Swede returned to Europe also having ended his PGA Tour season as the FedEx Cup champion.
However the current European No. 1 found himself grouped on the final day with Santos and catching-up with the Oceanico Victoria course sponsored pro really for a first time since Santos captured the Stenson hosted 2011 The Princess by Schuco event in Sweden on the secondary Challenge Tour, and it was Stenson who proudly handed the trophy to Santos.
“I first met Ricardo when he won the Challenge Tour event I was supporting in Sweden, and while I’ve seen him around, today was the first time in a long while we’ve had a good conversation,” said Stenson.
“So in many ways I have been following his career. It was great to see him win his first main Tour event last year at Madeira and then also win the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award. Winning straight out of the blocks as Ricardo did is always difficult, so it was nice to see him get settled onto the Tour so quickly.
“He’s developed into a very fine player and he had a great round today. I can see why he plays well as he has a big game and was hitting it nicely and had a few great up-and-downs.
“He’s also a very down to earth person and sounds very well-rounded, and he informed me his wife is expecting another baby soon, so I am very happy for them both.
“So you could say that having won that event in Sweden I was involved with, I’ve taken an interest in his career and I wish him very well for the future.”
