Henrik Stenson named 2023 European Ryder Cup Captain
15/03/2022
Henrik Stenson has been announced as the European Captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy.
The 2016 Open Champion has enjoyed an impressive Ryder Cup career, helping Europe to victory in three of five of his appearances as a player before going on to bring his experience to the role of Vice Captain in the 2020 edition of the biennial contest.
The 45-year-old becomes the first Swede to be named European Captain and will be aiming to emulate the memorable European performance in the last home match at Le Golf National in Paris, France in 2018, and reclaim the Ryder Cup following victory for the United States at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin, last September.
Stenson was selected as Europe’s 2023 Ryder Cup Captain by a five-man selection panel comprising the three most recent European Ryder Cup Captains – Pádraig Harrington, Thomas Bjørn and Darren Clarke - as well as the Chief Executive of the European Tour group, Keith Pelley, and DP World Tour Tournament Committee Chairman David Howell.
Stenson’s 12-man European Team will face the United States team which will be led by Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters Champion and 2015 Open Champion, from 25th September 25 to 1st October 2023.
“I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to be the European Ryder Cup Captain – it is a huge honour and I was humbled to get the call confirming the news,” said Stenson. “I would like to thank the selection panel for believing in me and will say to them, and every European golf fan, that I will do everything in my power and leave no stone unturned in the quest to get the Ryder Cup back in European hands.
“The Ryder Cup is golf, and sport, at its very best. I got goosebumps every time I pulled on a European shirt as a player and that will be magnified in the role of Captain. While it is great for me personally, it is also great for my country and all the players from Sweden who have played for Europe with such distinction since Joakim Haeggman became the first in 1993.”
As a player, Stenson made his Ryder Cup debut for Europe at The K Club, in Ireland, in 2006, when he secured the winning point in a dominant 18½ – 9½ victory. He was also a member of the victorious teams in 2014 at Gleneagles, Scotland, and 2018 at Le Golf National, in France, as well as being part of the European Teams in both 2008 and 2016.
The Swede has collected 17 titles worldwide and famously became Sweden’s first male Major winner when he triumphed in The 145th Open at Royal Troon
Stenson’s impressive CV also features an Olympic Silver Medal which he won at the 2016 Games in Rio, the 2008 World Cup of Golf alongside Robert Karlsson, the 2007 WGC Accenture World Match Play Championship and the 2009 PLAYERS Championship.
In 2013 he won the PGA TOUR’s Fed Ex Cup and the European Tour’s Race to Dubai in the same year after winning the season ending DP World Tour Championship, a title which he defended in 2014.
Stenson added: “When I started out as a professional golfer, it was beyond my wildest dreams that, one day, I would follow in the footsteps of legends of the game such as Seve and be the European Ryder Cup Captain. But today proves that, sometimes, dreams do come true.”
