Stenson has enjoyed a magnificent 12 months on the global stage, winning the BMW International Open in June before lifting the Claret Jug less than a month later at The 145th Open Championship, becoming the first Swedish man to win a Major Championship.
His epic battle with Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon will go down as one of the greatest duels in golfing history, with Stenson producing a stunning closing 63 - the joint lowest final round in a Major by a champion - to win by three shots, breaking the record low score of a Major Championship with a winning total of 20 under par 264.
In August he was the one to miss out in a similarly enthralling contest, this time finishing runner-up behind close friend Justin Rose at the Rio Olympics to claim the silver medal, with the pair fully contributing to the success of golf’s return to the games following an absence of 112 years.
After representing his country in Brazil, the 40-year-old then featured for Europe in his fourth Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National, claiming two points, including an impressive 3&2 singles victory over Jordan Spieth, but it was not enough to prevent the United States from reclaiming the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2008.
Stenson then finished the 2016 campaign in strong fashion, replacing Masters Champion Danny Willett as leader of The Race to Dubai courtesy of a joint runners-up finish in the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, a performance which proved crucial in the season-long contest. He then added further top ten finishes in the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player and DP World Tour Championship, Dubai during the Final Series, taking his total for the season to ten, to claim the European Tour Number One by a margin of 870,316 points, earning his second Race to Dubai crown in four years following his first triumph in 2013.
Stenson also won The European Tour Golfer of the Year award that year and he will now add this year’s trophy to his cabinet after a panel consisting of members of the golfing media unanimously voted for him as the 2016 winner.