Henrik Stenson warns Rory McIlroy, Jason Day not to swing so hard

Henrik Stenson may not smoke balls off the tee as far as his younger competitors, but Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, and the other big hitters on tour may want to listen when the 40-year-old world No. 4 issues a warning about the risks of injury that their violent swings pose.

“You see how hard both Jason and Rory goes after it. Not that I necessarily just pat it myself, but they really go after it, and of course, that’s going to put a lot of pressure on knees and back and neck and so on,” Stenson, 58th on the European Tour last year in driving distance, said Wednesday from the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. “So yeah, you’ve got to watch it.”

Watching is all the world’s second-ranked golfer can do for now and likely the next several weeks after a broken rib forced him to withdraw from the Abu Dhabi event. McIlroy, who has his sights set on reclaiming golf’s top spot, played through what he believed was back pain last week in South Africa but an MRI uncovered a stress fracture in one of his ribs — a far less serious, but nevertheless excruciating, injury.

Top-ranked Day has suffered through his own back miseries, as has his mentor, Tiger Woods, who will make his official return to the PGA Tour next week after undergoing multiple procedures on his own aching back.

Stenson could run through his own litany of afflictions, so he knows whereof he speaks. And his admonition to the new breed of big hitters, which would likely make Brandel Chamblee shudder, is to hit the gym early.

“The advice I would give to the next generation coming out is just making sure that you work hard from the beginning on your fitness. It doesn’t show up normally when you’re 20, 25. It comes at a later stage,” Stenson said. “But we’ve more injuries now, possibly … because of the way everyone tries to hit it and get distance off the tee. Of course, that’s going to give you more chances of being injured.”

Speaking of Chamblee, McIlroy, has in the past come under fire from the Golf Channel analyst for his Woods-like workout regimen.

Wednesday, though, McIlroy took his sometime critic to task over another issue altogether. This time the disagreement between Chamblee and a Twitter follower had to do with whether players should hit down or up on their drives (h/t golfweek.com).

McIlroy, who has a lot of time on his hands as he rests and recuperates away from the course, chimed in with his own views.

Up or down, the ball was in Brandel’s court.

Perhaps a meeting of some minds? Either way, when McIlroy and Chamblee exchange tweets, it’s always entertaining.