Alex Noren was the last guy anyone would pick to stand in the winner’s circle at the BMW European PGA Championship Sunday.
You can count Noren among them.
“I had no intention of trying this this tournament,” Noren said as he thought back to early Sunday, prior to his final 18. After all, he was a full seven shots behind overnight leader Andrew Dodt, who had posted eight-under par on Saturday.
The final 18 proved to be the round of Noren’s career. He went out and birdied eight of the first 16 holes at testy Wentworth and found himself tied for the lead with a couple of holes to play.
His big shot, his most memorable, came at the par five 18th. After a perfect drive, he found himself with only a five-iron for his second. He struck it perfectly and it ended up just six feet from the cup. He made the eagle, posted 11-under, then had a four-hour wait to find out where he would finish.
He had just recorded a course-record 62 that he called: “the best round of my career.”
The eagle was the icing on the cake and it delivered him his ninth win on the European Tour.
He would finish two in front of runnerup Francesco Molinari (58) and three ahead of the trio of Nicolas Colsaerts (65), fellow Swede Henrik Stenson (68) and Hideto Tanihara (68).
“It feels amazing and crazy,” Noren added.
Crazy good, yes.
An amazing course-record 62, hard to beat.
