Swede Noren storms to victory at Sun City
ALWAYS short of an invitation, long-distance and long-time admirer of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, Sweden’s Alex Noren surged to the title on the back of a blistering final round 63 at Sun City yesterday.
“I watched this tournament on TV a lot growing up and it was always a tournament I wanted to get into and eventually I did‚” the 34-year-old said.
He had to shoot low yesterday to overhaul South Korea’s Jeunghun Wang who held a six-shot advantage over him at the start of the day.
Noren did so and became the first player since Sergio Garcia in 2001 to successfully come from six back after the third round.
“I didn’t think I had a chance from six shots back,” the winner said.
“I thought going under par would be a great score. My putter was hot.”
Noren needed a low round to overturn the deficit to third-round leader Wang. He shot 63 for a tournament score of 14-under par to run away with the title which seemed out of reach when the South Korean went two under for the day on the fourth hole.
Noren, however, fired eight birdies and an eagle to snatch the $1.1-million (R16.7-million) first prize and move to ninth in the world rankings.
He has now captured the Scottish Open‚ the European Masters‚ British Masters and the Nedbank Challenge in the space of 11 events.
That is remarkable when you consider it took him 214 tournaments to win his first four.
Wang’s round unravelled on the back nine, bogeying 13‚ 15‚ 16 and 18, but he held on to second place on eight under.
South Africa’s Brendan Grace‚ England’s Andy Sullivan‚ France’s Victor Dubuisson‚ Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia and Spain’s Alejandro Canizares finished seven under.
With the win, Noren has played himself into contention for the Race to Dubai, but Henrik Stenson still leads those standings with Danny Willett second.