Alex Noren’s hot run of form this season continued in front of a full house at The Grove, where he secured third European title of the year at the British Masters.
The 34 year old may have missed out on a call up for Europe’s Ryder Cup team this year, but the super cool Swede proved that he has all the skills and the temperament to become a regular fixture in future matches, following a pillar-to-post victory in the Sky Sports supported event.
In a field that featured half of Europe’s squad from Hazeltine, including Lee Westwood, Danny Willett, Chris Wood, Andy Sullivan, and last year’s British Masters winner Matt Fitzpatrick, Noren showed that he has the talent to reach the very top of the game, after baggin his third win of the season in fine style.
Noren, who has also tasted victory at the Scottish Open and the European Masters this year, produced a closing 69 at The Grove to finish on 18 under par, two strokes ahead of nearest challenger Bernd Wiesberger.
While the weather behaved itself for the first three days of the tournament, it was too much to hope for four good days in a row in England in mid-October, and Sunday’s play was delayed until 10am after heavy rain flood some of the greens. The knock-on effect was a two-tee start in order to ensure all the field got round in good time.
Lying just one shot off the lead after an opening 67, Noren took the tournament by the scruff of the neck with successive five-under- par 65s to build a three-shot cushion going into the final day’s play. And he made the perfect start to his fourth round, notching birdies at each of his first two holes to climb to 18 under. He dropped his first shot of the day at the eighth, after narrowly missing a ten-foot birdie putt.
He then saw his advantage reduced to a single shot when he carded another bogey at the 11th. And then dropped into a share of the lead when Austrian Wiesberger holed a 12-foot birdie putt at the long 15th to join him on 16 under. But Noren regained the outright lead immediately, bagging a birdie at the 15th to get back to 17 under. After safely parring the next two holes, Noren finished with a tap-in birdie at the last to clinch his seventh European Tour title in all.
After appearing to struggling at times in his final round, Noren was delighted with his finish. He said: “I had a tough time with the distances off my wedges and irons in the middle of the round, and my caddie stepped in. Sometimes you’re a little bit blind yourself. You think you hit a good shot, but it comes up short, and you never want to blame yourself but he kind of told me what was going on. My putting was probably the best thing this week. I holed a lot of yardage. My chipping and wedge game was a lot better, so it helped me out.”
On the subject of clinching his third win of the season, Noren added: “It’s an amazing feeling. Honestly I never thought this would happen.”
Home favourite Lee Westwood bounced back from his below-par performance in Minnesota to finish third. The 43 year old mixed six birdies with two bogeys on his way to producing a closing 67 on Sunday and a 15 under par total.
Speaking after his best finish since finishing runner up in The Masters in April, Westwood said: “I played well this week, all things considered. I hit the ball really well tee-to-green and I was very solid on the greens. Obviously the Ryder Cup was disappointing for many reasons, and last week I struggled to get my tournament head on, so I’m pleased to get everything back to together and put in a good performance in front of the home fans. It’s been a great event, and it was great that so many people came out to support the event.
Richard Bland, who shot a second round 64, shared fourth place with Tommy Fleetwood, Graeme McDowell, Peter Hanson and Alex Levy on 13 under par. The previous week’s winner, Tyrrell Hatton, kept up his good form to finish tied ninth, while last year’s British Masters’ winner, Fitzpatrick, finished down the field in 49th. Still, he fared significantly better than tournament host Luke Donald, who missed the cut by five shots after opening up with first round 77.
Huge crowds – including a sell out 25,000 on the opening day, flocked to The Grove to see tournament golf return to the Watford-based venue for the first time since the World Golf Championship event won by Tiger Woods back in 2006. Supported by Sky Sports, the tournament once again laid on plenty on entertainment for the crowds, including a floodlit par-3 challenge on the Tuesday night, which was televised large in front of big galleries. The Hero Putt Challenge tested the pros putting skills on the Wednesday, while fans were treated to masterclasses after play each night, including a display of big hitting by recently crowned world long driving champion Joe Miller on Friday. There were also a number of ‘walk and talk’ interviews with players during the tournament itself, which was another innovation that proved popular with players and viewers alike, with Westwood, Bland and Fleetwood all quizzed by Sky’s Tim Barter during the weekend rounds.
Next year’s British Masters will be held at Close House Resort in Newcastle, when Westwood, who is attached to the club, will play tournament host.
