Two-time Race to Dubai champion Henrik Stenson is looking to continue his recent purple patch at this week’s flagship European Tour event – the BMW PGA Championship – but concedes it might not be enough to stake a claim on Padraig Harrington’s Ryder Cup Team.
The Swede, who won back-to-back DP World Tour Championships in 2013/14, has enjoyed a renaissance in his last three outings with top 15 finishes in each giving him something to smile about after a disappointing year.
Before a share of fourth at last month’s D+D Real Czech Masters, Stenson had failed to post a top 35 finish all year and has missed the cut in 12 of the 19 events played.
Fans of the 45-year-old will be hopeful he has turned a corner with recent results but it looks to be too little too late for a trip to Whistling Straits for golf’s greatest contest.
“I wouldn’t keep my high hopes up,” said Stenson when asked if he was hopeful of a Captain’s Pick.
“I think some of the spots are heading in certain directions, and there’s a lot of things that can happen here this last week, players that can jump past each other and push each other out from certain lists and that might influence kind of the setup of the team, as well.
“We’ll see. There might still be something to play for. A win here might change some minds, who knows, but I’m just going to go about this tournament like I would normally and try and prepare well and go out and do my job and we’ll see where it takes us. It has been nice to be in contention a few weeks as of late and play a little bit better, but we still haven’t been quite where we want to be or need to be.”
Harrington is set to announce his Captain’s Picks and any additional members of the team on Monday but with Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Luke Donald and Robert Karlsson all confirmed as Vice Captains, it seems unlikely there will be many spots left on Irishman’s backroom team.
“We’ve already got four Vice Captains announced so there’s not too many spots for that either,” said Stenson. “These spots seem to come harder these days. We’ll see if we’ll be there or not
“A lot of things will be straightened out this week but we’ll see what’s what. If we are not going to be there, we’re not going to be there, or if we are there in one or two capacities, we’ll see if that happens.”
