DORAL, Fla. -- The Doral Golf Resort & Spa is not one of South Florida's clothing-optional facilities, but that didn't stop Henrik Stenson.

The world's seventh-ranked golfer created quite the stir from South Beach to Stockholm, Sweden, when he stripped down to his underwear to play a shot out of the mud in the first round of the WGC CA Championship.

"I was only wearing two things when I hit the shot - my jocks and my golf glove," he said. "Just the way God created me. Shirt, trousers, socks, shoes, hat - the lot was off."

There has been no confirmation that Stenson arrived in this world 32 years ago wearing only his skivvies and a glove on his left hand, but there is plenty of photographic evidence all over the Internet of Stenson's risque review.

"Someone said they Googled it and found like 150 articles on the thing all over the place from Sweden to England to here," Stenson said Saturday.

The talented Swede is enhancing the reputation of his countrymen as being among the flakiest on tour. Jesper Parnevik notably liked to traipse around in the privacy of his own home in the altogether, but even he never doffed the duds in front of a gallery.

But for Stenson it was a no-brainer.

"It was all trying to save a shot really," he said.

His ball was sitting in a mud bog off the third hole. He was 5-under par through 11 holes and unwilling to give up a stroke at the cost of his Hugo Boss clothes.

Without any rain gear in the bag on a warm day and no forecast for precipitation, Stenson didn't hesitate to make the tough call to bare almost all.

"I could either be covered in mud completely or play the shot with not too much clothes," Stenson said. "I took that option. I was just trying to get it out and save a bogey. I was doing pretty good in the tournament, so it was all or nothing really."

His nothing drew a few jabs from his peers, plenty of screams from female admirers and at least one endorsement offer from Hanes . He could use the cash flow since he reportedly has millions frozen by the investigation into the investments with Stanford Financial, but Stenson can't just jump at the offer.

"I don't think that will happen," Stenson said. "I'm with Hugo Boss and they make underwear as well."

Stenson has been having some fun with the whole thing. He said he got his tips from Jamie Oliver - aka The Naked Chef - who was cooking on a project in the stifling heat near his home in Dubai with few stitches on.

"He was cooking pretty much naked so I tried to play golf pretty much naked," Stenson said.

His wife, former South Carolina golfer Emma Lofgren, simply laughed at her husband's bold display.

"She said I'm sharing my husband in boxers with the whole world," he said. "She was just shaking her head figuring out all the pictures would be in the papers."

Not all of the feedback has been positive from the stuffed shirts who abide by strict dress codes at country clubs, since his briefs weren't exactly Bermuda length. But Stenson brushes it off.

"Some people didn't like it, I guess, but how serious can you get," he said. "If you go out by the pool those people look the same as I did out there. If you can't see the fun part of it ..."

Next month, Stenson will be a serious contender at the Masters Tournament. He's played in three Masters to date, finishing tied for 17th each of the past two years. A year ago, three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo picked Stenson as his favorite.

"Experience is a big factor and I've got Fanny (Sunneson) on the bag who won there with Nick," Stenson said. "I've played there the last three years and I've picked up more and more. It's a tough place to do well in the beginning. I feel like you almost have to make the silly mistakes yourself to learn. I definitely think I will do well there in the future."

Would he ever consider stripping down to his undies and wading into Rae's Creek if a major title was on the line?

"I don't think we're going to see too much of that in the future," he said. "I've done it once. Next time I might just end up muddy."

But the image isn't entirely unappealing to the Swede.

"I think I could look pretty sweet in my jocks and a green jacket," he said with a chuckle.