Alex Noren breathed a huge sigh of relief Sunday when the Scottish Open trophy was in his hands.
“I’m so happy it’s over because it was a tough, tough leaderboard. A lot of guys at 11, 12 and 13-under and it was not a cruising win at all,” Noren said after his final round 70 was good enough to get the job done Sunday at the Castle Stuart Golf Links.
He finished at 14-under par, a shot in front of Tyrrell Hatton. Noren took a nice two-shot lead into 18 and Hatton birdied the 72nd hole to make it look close.
“This is by far the biggest win, the amount of players that are here and on a course like this in Scotland, it’s only what I dreamt of growing up,” Noren said.
It was an important showing for runnerup Hatton along with Nicolas Colsaerts and Matteo Manassero. All three played well and finished high enough to earn a spot in this week’s 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon. Hatton (69) was solo second. Colsaerts (66) solo third. Colsaerts had the best run of the day, starting at the 12th, he went eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie and that led to a back nine 30.
Manassero is working his way out of slump that has lasted two years and virtually dropped him so far in the world rankings you can’t find him but this week’s showing is a boost to his confidence, which is slowing returning.
Phil Mickelson’s 66 moved him into a tied for 13th at seven-under but Patrick Reed was the low American. He shot 67 and tied for 10th at nine-under par.
