Henrik Stenson: ‘LIV players have proven that they are competitive’

The 2016 Open champion has missed the first three majors of the year, partly due to his defection to the Saudi-backed breakaway

If Jon Rahm's dismissal of Brooks Koepka on Masters Sunday was heralded as a victory for golf's establishment, LIV's finest hour was still to come. Koepka won the US PGA Championship in May, giving the rebel tour a first major champion. Cameron Smith had already won the Open Championship by the time he joined LIV's 54-hole format.

Henrik Stenson is well aware his time jousting for golf's biggest prizes was curtailed in common discourse when he joined LIV's number. As the Open once again arrives, are LIV players still regarded as competitively redundant? Surely not.