The Iceman cometh- Financial losses

Financial losses

The Swede's enormous financial losses following the collapse of one-time sponsor Allan Stanford's empire has been well-documented. They run into seven figures and, despite ongoing legal proceedings, it is unlikely he will ever receive recompense.

Interestingly, though, Stenson maintains to this day that economic catastrophe did not really impact on his form and points to his victory in the Players Championship just a few weeks after news of Stanford's downfall as proof.

"It's obviously not great for anyone to be part of the whole Stanford Financial thing. I mean, that's a private issue, and we'll see what the outcome is. I went out and won the biggest win of my career three months afterwards. Of course it's not fun or something you wish on anybody, but I wouldn't have that down as an issue for playing poorly, if I can win Sawgrass three months after that was revealed. I think that one is kind of done and dusted," he said back in September.

But that is not a view shared by those around him. For many who have been stung in financial scams, embarrassment is often one of the overriding emotions, and perhaps it is Stenson's pride kicking in when he dismisses the impact of that event. But coach long-time coach Pete Cowan takes a stridently different standpoint.

"He lost all that money in Stanford which everyone knows about," Cowan told Sky Sports recently. "In the mid-2000s his confidence went up as a result of his financial security so obviously it dips when the other thing goes. People say he won at TPC six months after, but he didn't think he was going to lose all his money, he thought he could get something back."

Whatever the true extent of the Stanford scandal on Stenson, there can be no denying the influence of another factor which, understandably, garnered considerably fewer column inches.

Stenson poses with both trophies after his win at the Tour Championship wrapped up the FedEx Cup crown

Injury is, of course, part and parcel of a sportsman's lot, but Stenson's problems were not ailments caused by physical wear and tear - such as the wrist complaint he has managed throughout his stellar run this summer.

Instead a bout of viral pneumonia in August 2010 precipitated a degenerative and damaging period of ill-health, the effects of which the powerful Swede believes he only truly shook off earlier this year.

"I finished third at the British Open in '10 and then straight after I picked up like a viral pneumonia or something like that," he explained. "I was very ill... I wasn't fully aware of (it), so I was really struggling. I was in and out of hospital at these tournaments back then, and it was a good six, eight weeks to come back from that because I kept on pushing myself in the heat and playing tournaments when I really should have been in bed.

"But then the other part of it, we went on vacation November '11, and I picked up a parasite, a waterborne parasite, and that kind of took a while before I figured that one out, as well. That was really hanging on all of spring '12, as well. It's been gradually getting better, but there's still been tiny little things even probably a year and a half, two years afterwards. You can still kind of feel sometimes that the system hasn't been 100 percent."

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