Henrik Stenson shot a first round six-under par 64 on Thursday and sprinted to the lead at the Tour Championship. He followed that up with another solid round of 66 on Friday and held the 36-hole lead at 10-under par.

With wet weather approaching the Atlanta area the PGA Tour decided to begin the third round early. Stenson continued his hot play. He birdied two of his first three holes and stretched his lead to seven shots.

He has been on a wild ride since falling outside the top-200 in the Official World Golf Rankings at the beginning of 2012.

He missed the cut at his first two European Tour events in 2012, but finished the year with seven top-10 finishes in his last eleven European Tour tournaments. 

On the PGA Tour in 2012 Stenson only had one top-10 finish all season. He earned $791,000 and finished No. 117 in the FedEx Cup standings.

2013 has seen entirely different results for the big Swede. He currently leads the European Tour’s Race to Dubai with €2.1 million in earnings. He has seven top-10 finishes including one win.

On the 2013 PGA Tour, Stenson has been a top-10 machine. In his 17 starts this year he has seven top-10 finishes, including one win, three runners-up and a third place finish. He has won nearly $5 million and entered the last leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs in the second spot behind only Tiger Woods.

Since the end of July, he was runner-up at both the Open Championship and the WGC-Bridgestone, finished third at the PGA Championship, fell to T-43 at the Barclay’s but came back to win the Deutsche Bank Championship.

He has ascended to No. 6 in the world and is striving to move even higher.

With the confidence Stenson is now exhibiting on the golf course, he is the best player in the field and deserves the $10 million that goes to the FedEx Cup winner.