Announced himself as a major force on the world stage during the 2005 season with a series of impressive performances in some of the biggest events on the schedule as he climbed to eighth on the Order of Merit. Was denied victory on his home soil when Australian Mark Hensby pipped him to the Scandinavian Masters by Carlsberg title after a play-off. Also finished second in the Qatar Masters and the Linde German Masters and third four times. One of those third places was in the World Golf Championships – American Express Championship where he finished just behind Tiger Woods and John Daly in San Francisco. Was also joint top points scorer in the Seve Trophy with four points out of five in a stunning debut. Won his second European Tour title in 2004 when he captured The Heritage at Woburn to add to his previous success in the 2001 Benson and Hedges International Open.

His undoubted class first surfaced on the Challenge Tour when he won the Rankings in 2000 with the record of eight top ten finishes including three titles. Golf didn’t run in the Stenson family and it was a family friend who introduced him to the game. His father, Ingemar, started two years later but his 15 year old sister Ulrika tried it before decided to stick to horse riding. Got down to scratch at 18 and in 1994 played for Swedish boys. A year later graduated to the national side and rounded off a highly successful amateur career by representing Sweden in the 1998 Eisenhower Trophy in Chile.