The Swede, who is the Race to Dubai leader, also won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics.
"It is a great honour to join the exclusive club of people who have been awarded honorary life membership of the European Tour," he said. "That's definitely a special thing and something I will dearly cherish."
If Stenson wins this week's DP World Tour Championship in Dubai he will end the season as European No. 1 for the second time.
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"It would be one of my finest achievements," said Stenson.
"It was pretty sweet to be here as Europe's No. 1 in 2013 and I don't think it would be any less sweet being here as Europe's No. 1 in 2016 with the season that I've had and winning the Open and some other fine performances throughout the year."
(Reporting by Neil Robinson, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
