20 January 2024 , 13:17
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Henrik Stenson believes he played a role in Europe's thumping 16.5-11.5 Ryder Cup win over the USA last October, despite being sacked as captain a year earlier.
Stenson was initially named as the man to captain the Europeans in their attempt to win back the Ryder Cup on home soil in Rome. It was however Luke Donald who ended up leading the hosts to Marco Simone after Stenson was sacked in July 2022 following his switch LIV Golf.
Donald went on to deliver an all-time captaincy performance in the Italian capital, as the Europeans eased past their American rivals to win yet another title on home soil.
READ MORE: Tommy Fleetwood hails Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup recall as Europe move on from LIV stars
Stenson revealed this week that he did watch last Autumn's action, and feels some of the plans he put in place in the early stages helped Team Europe get over the line. "Clearly the boys did a phenomenal job and racked up a big lead," he told The Standard.
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"Quite a lot of that was carrying on from the work that we started a year out. All the changes on the golf course, and quite a few of the people who were involved with the team. Even though I wasn’t anywhere near the team, I still knew what was going on.
"Some of those things were put in place a while back - I knew how the golf bags were looking, I knew what fairways and bunkers were put in place, and who was in charge of the analytics on the team with Edoardo [Molinari]. There weren’t too many surprises with what was going on.”
Europe win the Ryder Cup last OctoberFor the Europeans, the change in captaincy worked out well with the introduction of Donald. So well in fact that the former world No. 1 made history last November, after becoming the first captain since 1995 to be reappointed for the following Ryder Cup.
Donald has been handed the reins for his continent's title defence at Bethpage Black in 2025, to the delight of his players, who were heard chanting 'two more years!' as he collected the trophy last October. One in particular who was pleased to see Donald return to the fold was Tommy Fleetwood.
Speaking to Mirror Sport at this week's Dubai Desert Classic, he said: "I think [reappointing Donald] is good timing with everything that is happening in the world of golf. You look at this Ryder Cup and the landscape of the European side changing.
"There's a lot of moving parts and I think Luke carrying on has given stability to what is Team Europe and he did a fantastic job... I think having Luke stay on again after everything that has happened is the right thing to do.”