He was so tired, the end was a blur with just the joy of success to hold his head up.

But Henrik Stenson loves match play and 120 hours of on-the-line compression is part of the game.

“I wouldn’t mind playing one or two more (match play) tournaments,” the 2007 Accenture Match Play champion said. “It becomes very clear to me what I have to do in match play. You have your opponent and you do better or worse. It’s do-or-die (at all times). You can never relax.

“I thrive on it.”

Last year’s Tucson victory was a major breakthrough for the Swedish star, who lives in Orlando, Fla. He hoped it was the start of a name-recognition campaign in the U.S. but it hasn’t turned out that way. He struggled at times, missed three cuts in 30 PGA Tour events and was 17th at the Masters.

Fatigue was not an issue, he said. Allergies, which smack him in the late spring and early summer, might have been. But golf is an inexact game, in mind, body and that quirky thing called “being on.”

Stenson, 31, beat an equally fatigued Geoff Ogilvy in the first non-American final here last year. He won 2 and 1 after falling behind by one late.

Stenson ranks 13th in the world after falling from a one-stroke deficit in the finals of the Dubai Desert Classic last month and ending tied for sixth.

Stenson will feel at home in Tucson this week with a winner’s confidence and a proficiency on desert courses. His two big career wins were last year at The Gallery here and in the Dubai Classic.

“Being based part of the time down in Dubai, I’ve had some good practice,” he said. “But we try and stay away from the desert, so I guess when I play well I keep it on the grass. It doesn’t make much of a difference if the course is in the desert or not.”

———

ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY
Where: The Gallery Golf Clubs, 14000 N. Dove Mountain Blvd.

When: Through Sunday

Monday
• Practice Round for pros at The Gallery Golf Club South Course.

• Arizona Diamondbacks/Chicago White Sox Spring Training Pro-Am at The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain – North Course. Shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. with box lunch in carts.

• Gates open from 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

Tuesday: Practice rounds

Wednesday: First round begins 7:50 a.m.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Bryan Lee, College/UA, Golf, page-c01, Sports-Golf, Sports-Golf-College/UA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.