http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ys-brlateralhazard031609&prov=yhoo&type=lgnsMulligan of the week
• So it’s the 12th hole at Doral. Thursday afternoon. Things are normal.
And then Henrik Stenson came along.
With his golf ball lying in the mucky shallow water of south Florida, Stenson had a choice: Take an unplayable lie. Or remove his shoes and socks, roll up the pant legs, and try to hit out of mud that would be ankle-deep.
Stenson, to everyone’s dismay, chose Option C: Remove shoes. Remove socks. REMOVE PANTS.
As if to fulfill some sort of exhibitionist streak, Stenson figured he’d go whole hog and REMOVE HIS SHIRT, ALSO.
What was left was Henrik (The Pantless Wonder) Stenson, standing in his boxer-briefs only, hitting his golf ball, in a too-graphic image for the ages. I don’t want to get too personal here, but I now know Stenson’s religion.
That he made birdie on the hole isn’t sufficient explanation.
Disrobing was clearly unnecessary, for a number of reasons, prime among them the photo that traversed the global wires that day. (Though we must give a special tip of the Yahoo! cap to Kyle Auclair, a friend of the column, for snapping it.) Stenson could have easily just rolled the pants up, gotten a bit of a splash, then played his last six holes, finished up, and returned to his hotel room – where his sponsor surely has dozens and dozens of complimentary pants, socks, shirts, sweaters and boxer-briefs awaiting him.
If his sponsor didn’t have them, surely we golf fans could pass the hat and get the guy a new pair of trousers.
Now I don’t want to engage in any ethnic stereotypes here, lest I lose my job, but it is of note that Stenson is from Sweden, the same country that produced volcano dust-eating Jesper Parnevik. Note to self: Any vacation to Sweden will surely yield some memorable moments.
Let’s hope Stenson’s Gypsy Rose Lee act doesn’t damage the future of one of the world’s best players. I did note that Stenson finished Doral with a final-round 83, perhaps suggesting the days of driving range-ribbing and endless media curiosity took its toll.
So I say to Henrik Stenson, from my column to your career … somebody give that man a mulligan! Failing that, get that man a bathrobe.
