Open Championship 2014: Henrik Stenson press conference

Henrik Stenson
Henrik Stenson
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Snippets from Henrik Stenson's press conference ahead of The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

A selection of some of the best bits from Henrik Stenson’s pre-Open press conference:

Q: On Tiger Woods: Do you suppose when he sees that he's playing with you it strikes fear in his heart?

A: Yeah, I think it would have been a lot of sleepless nights for him as of late. When did the draw come out? He looked tired, didn't he? No, we played a lot, but I've had some good success playing against him and managed to beat him a couple of times. So I'll try and play my game and play it as well as I can, and a few times it's been good enough to beat him. So I'll try and do the same tomorrow.

Q: You have a very good life and a very good career and a lot of money….

A: You need a loan?

Q: Just wondering, you mentioned in your opening remarks about patience, keeping your patience. Is that still a work in progress for you on the golf course?

A: I think it always is, being able to accept your mistakes, and if you don't keep to your plan, more so to be able to keep to your plan. And the Majors are the toughest test mentally, I'd say, in the golfing calendar. And you're going to make mistakes, and it's how you bounce back from them. That's always been a key. And I think that's always a tough thing for a player, not just me in particular.

Q: Having had a career path that took you up higher, then a dip, then back up high again. Do you live in fear of losing your mojo again or can you rationalise what brought you back and can help yourself stay there because of that?

A: Yeah, I think you learn something every time, and I guess more than anything I've kind of come back from a very low pulse a few times. I know I can do it a third time, if it needs to be. But that being said, I'm not striving to put myself in that position again. If you keep on doing the right things and keep your mind to it, then I shouldn't be playing as bad as I've done a couple of times throughout the years. But this game is an interesting one, and you can never say for certain. It goes ups and downs. I've had probably some bigger downs and potentially some bigger ups than a lot of players.

Q: Par 72 with reachable par 5s, what style of game do you think this golf course suits best?

A: Well, I think it has probably some of the flattest greens that we play on links courses. And the key is going to be to get it in. And the rough is a bit patchy. You can get some really decent lies, but you can be hacking out with a wedge if you get a bad one. So hitting fairways is going to be key, if you do that, you give yourself the best chances to hit the greens.

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?