Henrik Stenson has a hot 3-wood

• By David Allen
• Jul 1, 2009 1:23 PM ET

The hottest 3-wood on the PGA Tour belongs to Sweden's Henrik Stenson, who used his strong 3 to split one fairway after another at TPC Sawgrass this weekend en route to winning The Players Championship by four shots. Stenson, who entered play on Sunday trailing third-round leader Alex Cejka by five shots, hit a remarkable 13 of 14 fairways on Sunday and 26 of 28 on the weekend to capture his first PGA Tour title since the 2007 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.
 
Ironically, Stenson was playing the same strong 3-wood (Callaway Big Bertha, 13 degrees, Grafalloy Blue shaft, X-flex) back in '07. "I like to hit my 3-wood a lot, and that club just matches perfectly around here – a little right-to-left shape a lot of times," said Stenson following Sunday's bogey-free round of 6-under 66.
 
It also helps that Stenson can carry his 3-wood 270 yards. He averaged 299 yards on Sunday using his 3-wood on all but one driving hole – the par-5 11th. Stenson hit his lone driver of the day there, and made birdie.
 
"I hit my 3-wood far," said Stenson. "I hit a good one down No. 18 the other day, and I think it said 318 [yards] or something like that [on the ShotLink board]. When you get one going on these fast, firm fairways, they can run on."
 
Stenson also played a Big Bertha 19-degree fairway wood, Callaway FT-3 driver (9.5 degrees), Srixon 1-506 irons, Callaway X Tour wedges (54 and 58 degrees), YES! C-Groove Donna putter, and Srixon Z-UR golf ball. The Swede is not one for change: A look at his What's in the Bag for the 2007 WGC event lists the same clubs except the Big Bertha 19-degree fairway wood.