Noren exemplifies steely resolve
dubai — For those with a steely resolve, there’s no time to bask in glory. They continue to strive harder for more laurels. Alex Noren exemplified that intent by going straight for the driving range at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, three hours after landing in Dubai from Sun City in South Africa where he posted his fourth European Tour victory.
On Sunday night, Noren posted a nine-under-par round of 63 for tournament score of 14 under par to win £903,000, which took his earnings for the year above £2.6 million. Instead of celebrating his phenomenal success, he took the first available flight to Dubai, landed here at 8.30am and he was at the driving range in Juemirah at 11am, just over 12 hours after winning the title.
He could have relaxed at the Jumeirah Golf Estates’ new impressive 19th hole after climbing up two places, (from fifth to third) in the Race to Dubai title challenge. The Swede, however, chose to sweat it out in the desert sun after a brilliant show at Sun City.
Noren is among the four golfers with a chance to win the Race to Dubai title but his odds are less compared to the Open Champion Henrik Stenson and the Masters Champion Danny Willett.
Stenson, former Race to Dubai champion, leads the Rankings by almost 299,675 points over Wille with Nedbank Golf Challenge and four-time winner Alex Noren is trailing his fellow Swede by 633,436 points. Three-time champion Rory McIlroy is 1,176,414 points behind Stenson.
Following a superb campaign which saw him lift his first Major at The Open Championship, Stenson has the upper hand as he looks to win the Race to Dubai for the second time after his previous success in 2013. McIlroy, the Race to Dubai winner for the past two seasons, has to win to have any chance of being crowned Number One for a fourth time, while Noren needs a top two finish and Willett at least a top five.
While the Race hots up, the Jumeirah Golf Esates is ready to host over 65,000 fans over four days from Thursday as 60 of the world’s top golfers battle it out for the European Tour’s season-ending finale on the 7,675-yard 18hole course.
“With the DP World Tour Championship now just days away, we are working hard to put the final touches on the backdrop of the region’s most anticipated sporting event,” said Julian Small, Managing Director at the Club Operations at the Jumeirah Golf Estates.