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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Major golf winner declares love for Celtic - but issues Rangers caveat

Henrik Stenson has declared that he's a Celtic fan. 

However, the major golf winner concedes that the decision may purely be because he wanted to 'p*** off' a Rangers supporter.

The Swede won the Open Championship when it was last at Royal Troon in 2016. The golfing major will return to South Ayrshire next month.

Now, in a wide-ranging interview with Jack Martin at Golf Australia, Stenson has lifted the lid on his love for football, alongside his profession as a golfer.

And it was during this Q&A that he revealed why he became a Celtic fan - as he threw in the caveat about Rangers.

"When I was really young I used to watch the English matches on TV in Sweden," the 48-year-old responded. "I was a Liverpool fan because of the Swedish defender Glenn Hysen.

“But Henrik Larsson, one of our best-ever players, ended up at Celtic, so that got me interested in them. However, I might have just said I support them to p*** off a Rangers fan.”

It's the second time Stenson has publicly stuck the boot in on Rangers.

When preparing for The Open eight years ago, he took part in a Callaway x Rangers golf event, which saw several Callaway golfers team up with Rangers players and staff for numerous golf and football challenges.

And in a promotional programme for the event, he admitted his favourite player was Larsson, as he revealed that if he didn't make it in golf he would've wanted to be 'a Celtic player, for sure.'

The Open arrives to Troon on Sunday, July 14 and will run for a full week.

The competition itself begins on Thursday, July 18 until Sunday, July 21.

Stenson, part of the controversial LIV Golf tour, will be hoping he can recreate his past success on the links course.

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