Henrik Stenson makes history with Race to Dubai win

At the beginning of 2012, Henrik Stenson was struggling. The now 37-year-old Swede had fallen to 213 in the world rankings, and it looked like he would go down as the man that once got nearly naked during a professional golf event and not an incredibly talented golfer that would make history just a full season later.

On Sunday at the World Tour Championship in Dubai, Stenson became the first golfer ever to win the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai in the same season thanks to an six-shot victory at the Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Stenson was nearly perfect all week at the season ending event in Europe, hitting an incredible 68 of 72 greens in regulation and closed the event with a round of 8-under 64 to grab not only this victory but the Race to Dubai title as well.

How impressive is that 68 greens in regulation number? According to Jamie Kennedy, Phil Mickelson had the best GIR week of the year on the PGA Tour, and he hit just 63 of 72 greens at the Waste Management Open.

The end of the year for Stenson was one for the ages, as he finished second at the British Open, third at the PGA Championship and was able to win two FedEx Cup events and the World Tour Championship in just over two months.

Golfers go on these runs at times, but it doesn’t seem to happen as much these days with anyone not named Tiger Woods. The talent pool is so deep in professional golf that it seems nearly impossible to go on a winning streak because you are due to run into that one hot golfer that can’t miss, but Stenson simply hit the ball much better than anyone in the world over the span of the final three months.

His game has become major-ready, and if he can take the momentum from ’13 and apply it to the 2014 season I would expect him to be a favorite at just about every major venue next season.

– – – – – – –

Shane Bacon is the editor of Devil Ball Golf and Busted Racquet on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shanebaconblogs@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter at @ShaneBacon!