Henrik Stenson capped off the 2013 PGA Tour season in memorable fashion on Sunday, becoming the fourth consecutive player to double dip by winning the Tour Championship and claiming the year-long race for the FedEx Cup. All in all, Stenson took home $11.44 million Sunday to bring his season’s earnings to more than $16.5 million and put an exclamation point on a truly special year.

Should someone have told us a European would win the FedEx Cup at the beginning of the year, names like Rory McIlory or Luke Donald probably would have been the first guesses. After that, maybe Justin Rose or Lee Westwood would be predicted. Somewhere down the list would be Stenson.

The Swede was outside the top 200 in the Official World Golf Rankings just a brief time ago in early 2012, and coming into this season he was ranked outside the top-50 in the listing. He had two previous PGA Tour victories—the 2007 WGC Accenture Match Play Championship and the previous pinnacle of his career, the 2009 Players Championship. Only twice had he advanced to the FedEx Cup Playoff series: 2007 and 2012.

In fact, before late this summer, most golf fans would probably point to Henson as that guy who disrobed all the way to his underwear to play a shot out of some mud—which also came in 2009.

But, his performance throughout the 2013 season should certainly bring a whole new level of recognition to Stenson.

His first top finish came at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where he tied for eighth place. He followed that with a T2 at the Shell Houston Open, then recorded a top-20 finish at the Masters.

Following a missed cut in Charlotte at the Wells Fargo, he returned to TPC Sawgrass and finished T5. Then, after a stretch of three finishes outside the top 20, Stenson had a T3 finish at the Scottish Open and played at a truly high level for the remainder of the season.

He recorded career best finishes at The Open Championship (T2) and the PGA Championship (3). Another runner-up finish came at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

In the first week of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Stenson had his highest finish of the season when making the cut (T43), but bounced right back—just as he has done on a much larger level several times in his career—and notched his third career PGA Tour victory by at the Deutsche Bank Championship. With that victory, he eclipsed Tiger Woods for the lead spot in the FedEx points listing.

At the BMW Championship, Stenson finished T33 and set the stage for his first ever appearance at the PGA Tour Championship and ranked second in FedEx Cup points.

This week, Stenson’s game was at its best once again with his prolific ball-striking on display. For the season, the pure striking Swede ranked first in both greens in regulation and ball striking (through last week’s BMW). Add in a rank of second in total driving (also through the BMW) and an improving putting game, and Stenson has the total package.

While Stenson had a couple of late threats he was well aware of from rookie phenom Jordan Spieth and Steve Stricker, he calmly cruised in for a three-shot victory at East Lake Golf Club.

“I’m not just a pretty face. I can put 1-and-1 together,” Stenson said after the tournament in his trademark deadpan humor.

“It shows that I never give up,” Stenson also said. “This is way beyond what I could have imagined.”