Henrik Stenson Wins the Players

As is the case in virtually every tournament he plays, the story line heading into Sunday's round of the Players Championship was Tiger Woods. He had worked his way into the final group, but started the day five shots back of playing partner Alex Cejka, the unlikeliest 54-hole leader. Cejka entered the week ranked 267th in the world, and, at 38, was still in search of his first PGA victory.

But as Woods and Cejka were hacking their way around the front nine -- Tiger needed 38 strokes going out; Alex needed 42 -- Henrik Stenson was putting on a golfing clinic.

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The Swede began the day five shots off the lead but a steady 34 on the front nine -- while Cejka played his first five holes in 6-over -- put him atop the leaderboard. Stenson fired four more birdies on the back nine, and got to 12-under, stretching his lead to four strokes. After calmly striping his drive down the middle on No. 18, and tapping in for par three strokes later, he was the Players champion, something no other Swede has ever accomplished.

It's not often that television coverage strays from Woods, even when he's several shots off the lead. We've seen him overcome the insurmountable too many times. But Sunday, it was clear early that Tiger was off his game -- his struggles off the tee continued, and it got so bad that he couldn't even find the fairway with his go-to shot: the 3-wood power fade (your move, Lee) -- and much of the final two hours of coverage focused on the leaders: Stenson, Ian Poulter, Ben Crane and Jim Furyk. It was refreshingly ... different.

Stenson isn't well known in the United States, but he should be; the Players Championship is his third victory with Tiger in contention. In 2007, he held off Woods at the Dubai Desert Classic, and that same year won the Accenture Match Play Championship.

As for Tiger, we'll have to endure another week of questions about what has happened to his game, he'll assure us that it takes time to recover from reconstructive knee surgery, and we'll remain skeptical until he wins in Woods-ian fashion. And then we'll all forget his early-season struggles. It happens every time.