Open Champion Henrik Stenson was given a reality check ahead of this week’s PGA Championship.
The Swede was playing a practice round on Baltusrol when he left a long putt short and it prompted one smart putter to bring the Royal Troon champion back to earth.
“I had this long putt and left it way short and someone in the stands shouted, ‘Does your husband play golf?’ Stenson joked. “It shows you you’re not up there on that pedestal for very long.”
Stenson also only had a week to enjoy his success before preparing for the final major of the year, a week which started with a charity day in Switzerland run by Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia and included a press conference broadcast live on national radio in Sweden.
Henrik Stenson brought back to earth when punter asks: “Does your husband putt?” ahead of this week’s PGA Championship.
“Then I had some time with the family and of course I could every now and again give that Claret Jug a little glare and it brought a grin to my face every time,” added the world number five, who said he has so far drunk “champagne, champagne and champagne” from the trophy.
“It’s fantastic. It’s a boyhood dream come true and something I wanted to achieve all my life, and then it finally happened. I’m delighted, but at the same time we’re in the middle of a big season with the PGA Championship being the last major and then into the Olympics and FedEx Cup and Ryder Cup, and Race to Dubai finish.
“It’s still a lot of golf, so we’ve still got to try and focus on what’s ahead. I don’t think I’m going to sit back and just say, ‘Okay, that was it, I’m finished’.
“It’s definitely the icing on the cake. If I look at my career, a major championship was pretty much the only thing I had not managed to achieve and now I have that. But then at the same time, you can look ahead and then try and win another one.
“So I think I’ve still got a good few years in me and I’m going to try and keep on developing. If you don’t, these young guys are going to come up and take over. So I still think I’ve got a bit of fight in me.”
