Joining LIV Golf has led to different consequences for many golfers. American golfers were banned from PGA Tour events, while European golfers had to pay additional fines to continue competing on the DP World Tour. But for Henrik Stenson, joining the Saudi-backed league cost him the captaincy at one of the most prestigious golf events, the Ryder Cup. The 6x PGA Tour winner was announced as the 2023 Ryder Cup captain for the European team, but Luke Donald replaced him when the former joined LIV Golf in July 2022. But that’s not the only time he felt low; he has faced far greater struggles in his career.

Struggle is not uncommon in golf, or any sport for that matter. Thinking that a golfer with a career spanning 15-20 years won’t have a single poor year would be foolish. So when asked about his bad year, Stenson opened up about a point in his career when he lost confidence in his game.

“In 2001, came on the European tour and I won my 11th start. Came off a good year. I’d won the Challenge Tour, which is like the Korn Ferry of Europe. I’d won that one the year before. Won quite early, and then at the end of that summer, I started spraying it off the tea, and I kind of lost my confidence completely, and it just went downward. 2002, I missed, I don’t know, say I played 28 tournaments, I probably missed like 21 cuts, and I was hitting it sideways, and confidence was at its absolute low,” said Stenson on the No Bad Lies podcast.

The 11x DP World Tour winner is talking about his early 2001 success and how his form declined after the summer. He turned professional in 1998 and topped the 2000 Challenge Tour Rankings to get his European Tour card. He then started the 2001 season well by transitioning his success on the Challenge Tour to the main European Tour. At the Benson & Hedges International Open, Henrik finished 3 strokes ahead of Ángel Cabrera and Paul McGinley to win the tour with 13-under par.

But soon after that, his form started shaking. Between 2001 and 2002, his DP World Tour ranking dropped from 44 to 177. In 2002 alone, he played in 21 tournaments, but made the cut in only 8. In fact, it was also his worst year financially, as he made €42,282.85, the lowest in terms of prize money.

Explaining how the tees were scattered across the course, Henrik said, “It would just go like miles to the right.” This is where the psychological factor comes in. Once Stenson knew it was going to the right, he started hitting to the left as a consequence. Thus, he was all over the place.

To overcome this challenge, Stenson started working with coach Pete Cowen. The aim was to completely rebuild Stenson’s swing and restore his confidence. Pete is a renowned coach and has worked with several popular athletes, including Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Sergio García, Brooks Koepka, and more. The duo kept working on Stenson’s swing for about two years. Reflecting on the same, Henrik said, “It got to the point I was practicing on the range. I was hitting drives with my eyes closed just not to kind of interfere.”

This trick helped Stenson get back on the course and regain confidence in his swings. Since then, he has enjoyed a fulfilling career.

Henrik Stenson’s career after regaining confidence

Working on his swing for two years from 2002 to 2004 gave results. He got his first DP World Tour victory since the incident in September 2004 by winning the Heritage. He then went on to win nine other DP World Tour titles between 2006 and 2016. Besides, he also got his debut PGA Tour win in 2007 at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

All his 6 PGA Tour wins came after his work on the swing. The 2016 season was one of the best for him. He won the 2016 Open Championship this year, making him the first Scottish golfer to win a major.

Henrik still continues to play, especially in the Open Championship. In 2025, he tied for 45th position and won €44,060.46 at 1-under par for 283.

Stenson’s career low and how he regained confidence mark a reminder that even at the highest level, setbacks are part of the game. However, he is again facing a similar situation now. After his relegation from the 2026 LIV Golf season, it will be exciting to see what Henrik does next to improve his game again.