SUN CITY, South Africa (Reuters) – Alex Noren produced the “round of my life” to card a scintillating 63 for a tournament total of 14 under par and a fourth European Tour victory of the season at the Nedbank Challenge on Sunday. The Swede, who started his final round six shots behind overnight leader Jeunghun Wang, managed eight birdies and an eagle for the lowest round of the tournament as he claimed victory by six shots from the stuttering South Korean. After a faultless third-round display on Saturday when he carded a 64, Wang was full of nerves and errors and could manage only a 75 to close.
“It’s huge,” Noren said at the trophy presentation. “It was one of those rounds, the round of my life.”
Noren, who now moves into the top 10 on golf’s world rankings for the first time, made a fast start, sinking birdies on his first three holes before adding three more on the front nine.
When he bagged an eagle on the par-five 10th hole and then birdied the 11th, he took a commanding lead that he never looked like relinquishing.
The 34-year-old is the first Swede to win four European Tour events in a single season after earlier success in the Scottish Open, European Masters and British Masters.
The Race to Dubai will go down to the wire at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next week after money-list leader Henrik Stenson carded a 70 on Sunday for an aggregate total of six under par that saw him finish eighth at Sun City. The Swede is favorite to wrap up the title of Europe’s top golfer in 2016 as his nearest rival, England’s Danny Willett, fell further behind after finishing tied 11th this weekend.
Noren is third on the money list and has an outside chance of capping a fantastic year by becoming Europe’s leading golfer himself.
“This is out of my mind, I’ll just try to play some good golf next week and we will see what happens,” he said.
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Clare Fallon)
Reuters
