Henrik Stenson

Stenson's major exemptions for winning the 2016 Open Championship have expired.

The 45-year-old has really started to decline. He made only six cuts in 18 starts on the PGA Tour last season. But Stenson is exempt for two more years thanks to winning the 2016 Open Championship. That will get him closer to the Champions Tour but not quite there. Stenson is also 37th in all-time earnings on the PGA Tour. If he remains in the top 50 after this season, which seems likely, he then could use a one-time exemption.

Stenson just didn't play enough on the PGA Tour last season to really give you any confidence in selecting him in 2020-21. It doesn't appear he has any motivation to contend for a FedEx Cup title again and will likely split time between tours. Stenson won the Hero World Challenge last December, but his best finish in an official PGA Tour event was T20 at the WGC-HSBC Champions.

Was 2019 the start of Stenson's inevitable downfall? Stenson's game showed a slight decline in the two seasons prior to this past seasons, but it was a dramatic decline. Last season however, Stenson struggled for long stretches and rarely looked like the player we've become accustomed to. Stenson turned 43 this past season and it's hard to imagine his game improving much at this point. With that said, his number is more than reasonable for salary cap purposes.

It's hard to recall how Stenson earned more than $2.6 million last season, and that's because his best finish came way back at the season-opening event in late October. He had a nice stretch in spring as well, which resulted in three top-10s, but the second half of the season was terrible. Well, not terrible for the average golfer, but terrible for Stenson. Stenson fought through an elbow injury, which undoubtedly affected his performance, but his price for this season doesn't really reflect any missing time. As such, it's not an easy call with Stenson this season as he's bound to play better if he's healthy, but can he get back to say, $3 million? Stenson has topped $3 million just three times in the last six seasons, and although he has a huge upside, he's probably not worth the price this year in salary cap leagues. In all other formats, Stenson still has plenty of value however.

For Stenson to just miss out on the Tour Championship was a bit miraculous as his season could not have started much worse. From mid-April through the U.S. Open, Stenson missed five of six cuts, which for a player of his caliber is almost unheard of. He managed to find his old form towards the end of the season, but he simply ran out of time to make it into the top-30. The slow start to the season provides us with a lot a value heading into this season as Stenson is almost certain to show a significant increase in earnings this season.

Stenson was close to having a great season, but injuries left him with just a very good one. That very good season included a win at the Open Championship, a runner-up at the Shell Houston Open and a Silver medal at the Olympics. Outside of those three evens, Stenson didn't put much on paper, but he was in the hunt at the PGA Championship until late Sunday. His prospects for a solid run through the FedEx Playoffs looked good as well, but a knee injury ended his season. Considering Stenson only played 14 events on the PGA Tour last year, it's reasonable to think he'll improve on his numbers from last season. With that in mind, Stenson makes for a decent salary cap play this season and he should go in the 2nd-round in draft leagues.

Stenson shocked the golfing world by capturing the Fed Ex Cup two years back, but in doing so, he set the bar way too high. Stenson is a quality player, but he's not a top-5 guy, which is where he ended the 2013 season. With that said, he's probably better than he showed last year, which makes him an interesting salary cap selection this year. He's probably worth a look in salary cap leagues and should go near rounds four or five in draft leagues.

What to do with Henrik Stenson. He came on like gang-busters last season, but he may have set the bar too high. It's not like he came out of nowhere last year, Stenson had been one of the better players on the planet about 5-7 years ago before his game fell apart, so there is a foundation to build on there, but is he really a top-5 player? For now it's probably best to let someone else take him in the top-5 of a draft and let the chips fall where they may. There are simply too many quality options at the top of the draft to take a chance on Stenson this year. That's also true in salary cap formats where his cap number from last year is just too high.

It wasn't too long ago that Stenson was one of the best players in the world. He hasn’t resembled that player in a few years, though. He's fallen off so much, that last year's effort was actually significantly better than what he did in 2011. Stenson still holds a decent World Golf Ranking, which could come in handy, but he needs to improve his play first - and that might be too much to ask. Stenson has plenty of upside, but it's been a few years since we've seen it. He's worth a look in salary cap leagues because his earnings number is so low, but don't expect much. He's also worth a late dart in draft leagues.

Last season, Stenson sure didn't resemble the player who won The Players in 2009 and the WGC Match-Play event in 2007. Actually, he hasn't resembled that player for a couple years now. Is this how Stenson is going to go out, or can he find some of that game again this year? At his current price, you might as well take a chance on him. His World Gold Ranking will get him into enough events to give him a chance, and he really only needs to play well once to justify the pick.

Stenson is one of the best players in the world, and his fantasy value will be higher than ever this season with the announcement that he will play on the PGA tour in 2010. Stenson earned more than $2.5 million last season in just 10 events, including a win at The Players Championship. Stenson is definitely a candidate to make a big jump up the rankings and the money list this season; so though he's not your typical sleeper pick, he's a good player to target in your draft. Stenson, who finished 2008 ranked at eighth, held onto eighth place in the final 2009 Official World Golf Rankings.

Stenson made an early season splash at the WGC Match Play Championship last season, but did little to back that up the rest of the way. After winning the match play event, there was talk of Stenson possibly being one of the best three or four players in the world. That talk quieted after he earned only one more top-10 the rest of the season. Stenson is a very good player, but he's not an elite player just yet. Considering the minimal amount of tournaments that he will most likely play in 2008, his price is a little too steep.