The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Henrik Stenson claimed the 2019 Hero World Challenge and the internationally acclaimed event also raised funds toward Hurricane Dorian Relief through a challenge issued by the event’s title sponsor.

Stenson shot a final round 66 to finish at -18 overall and just hold off defending champion John Rahm who finished second as play concluded at the Albany Golf Course.

Hero MotoCorp issued a challenge to the field and pledged $500 for every birdie, $1,000 for every eagle and $2,500 for every ace with proceeds given to the One Bahamas Fund.

The Players raised $184,500 and One Bahamas will match the donation for a total of $369,000.

It was Stenson’s first tour victory in nearly two years when he won the 2017 Wyndham Championship.

“Very happy with the way I played. And when you’re up against 17 top players like we were this week, it’s obviously an extra feather in the hat to come out on top and then to beat them. So yeah, very pleased with the day’s work and how the week worked out obviously.”

On the back nine, Stenson had several miscues and highlight reel strokes, including a long 30-foot par save on 11, an eagle on 15 and a trio of pars down the stretch to stay ahead.

“It was certainly an interesting back nine...happy with the way I closed out the tournament,” Stenson said. “I’ve hit the ball a lot, lot better this week than I’ve done for a long time. Still some ways to go in confidence and when you really feel like you can hit the perfect shots, but I had a lot of solid iron shots and I was sticking it in there close on, I don’t know, probably 15 times throughout the week. You always know it’s a good sign when you’re hitting a couple really close every day. Yeah, we just got to rest up and enjoy this win and the offseason and then come back and try hard again in January.”

Rahm also shot a final round 66 and finished just one stroke shy of becoming the first back-to-back champion in event history at the Albany Golf Club.

“Yeah, good performance, played really good tee to green especially today. I just couldn’t get it going and I got a stretch of good putts over there on 14, 15, 16 to give myself a chance.

“I have made my share of long ones this week, especially on 15, but I can’t help to think a lot of those short ones I missed. I mean, either way, I mean, still really good score, 17 under par with a couple missed putts.

“Everything evens out. So those three eagle putts on 15 even out a lot,” Rahm said. “I wish I would have had a scoreboard on 18 to know that I was one back because I definitely played it 20 feet short of the pin thinking I was at least tied for the lead, so I wanted to give myself a chance. But had I known, I would have been a little bit more aggressive. It is what it is. I still hit a good shot, I just mis-hit it a tiny bit and came up shorter than I wanted it.”

Patrick Reed was the leader for the first two days of the tournament, but eventually finished third.

“Yeah, you knew coming into [the final round] where Jon and I both were that you’re going to have to go shoot a low one because the wind wasn’t blowing as hard as it was earlier in the week and because of that, a three or four under par round wasn’t going to get it done. You’re going to have to shoot a low round,” he said. “I felt like going out there and I did what I needed to do on the back nine, just the front nine I just didn’t quite make enough. I got off to the start I needed, birdied two of the first three, but then after that I wasn’t able to capitalise on the next -- basically the entire front nine. When you do that, especially with starting behind, you have a lot to catch up on. I was proud the way I grinded out, especially on the last couple towards the end of the round. You know, anytime you’re able to go out there and shoot 66, you’re always happy.”

Reed caused his fair share of controversy on day three when he was penalised two strokes for appearing to deliberately improve his lie in a bunker on 11.

He took several practice swings which appeared to flatten the surface behind his ball. In official bunkers players cannot improve their positioning by “removing or pressing down sand or loose soil.”

Despite the setback, Reed was still in contention on the final day.

“Honestly, I haven’t been paying attention on what’s been going on in the media. You know, for me, it was just something that I’m going out there to play the best golf I can. At the end of the day, after I didn’t feel like in the -- while I was there playing the hole that I really did any kind of rules infraction, but then afterwards seeing it on camera, there was Slugger and I sat down and Slugger said that you have to take two strokes. After seeing it on camera and seeing sand move, obviously it’s a penalty. So at that point I had to accept it and move on. I mean, the last thing you can do is let it dwell, especially when you have 18 holes left to go because you still have a chance to win a golf tournament. You’re only three back, so you have to go out and play a solid round of golf which I did, but at the same time it’s not going to be enough,” Reed said.

“At the end of the day I wasn’t intending to improve a lie or anything like that. Like I said, I didn’t feel like I was doing anything that was improving a lie, but then when you saw it on camera, because of that camera angle, they said that the sand was moving, and when the sand moves like that, it’s a penalty.

Tournament host Tiger Woods finished with a 69 on the final day and finished fourth overall.

“It was a good solid week. Golf-wise, it was a good solid week. I wish I could have, as I said earlier, I wish I could have hit the ball a little bit closer,” he said. “I had a few 9-irons on down I normally would hit in there a little bit closer than I did this week. If I would have given myself a few more looks, this might have been a different story, but I just didn’t.”

In September, Woods partnered with singer/actor Justin Timberlake, Nexus, RBC and Albany Bahamas to establish the ONE Bahamas Fund to aide the rebuilding efforts in Abaco and Grand Bahama. In the days following Dorian, the group donated $6 million toward the various stakeholders in the recovery.

For the fifth consecutive year, the $3.5 million Hero World Challenge featured 18 of the top golfers on the PGA Tour.

The week of festivities began with the inaugural edition of the Hero Shot at Baha Mar on Monday - won by Woods, followed by Tuesday’s Pro-Am.

The Tiger Woods Foundation is the event’s primary charitable beneficiary, along with the Tavistock Foundation and Bahamas Youth Foundation.