He is golf’s meteor.
He has been moving up the charts faster than any player in the world of golf over the past five months.
Following the U.S. Open last June, Alex Noren was ranked 108th in the world.
When the new rankings come out this week, this sensational Swede will crash the Top 10 for the first time in his career.
In case you got caught up in football last weekend, let’s bring you up to speed on what Noren has done.
On Sunday he absolutely blew the field away at the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa. He blistered the Gary Player Country Club with a closing nine-under par 63 that had the rest of the field wondering:
“Who was that guy?”
That was Alex Noren — eight birdies and an eagle later.
Going into the final 18 holes, Noren made up a dozen shots on overnight leader Jeunghun Wang, who never knew what hit him. Wang shot 75 on Sunday, good enough for second but a half dozen behind Noren.
What Noren did was plant himself firmly in the hunt for the overall Race To Dubai title, the European equivalent of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup.
He’s in third position, right behind leader Henrik Stenson and Danny Willett. Stenson has been playing well although Willett has been in a huge slump, leading him to take to Twitter two weeks ago and declare: “This game is kicking me in the nuts….”
This is Noren’s fourth victory on the European Tour this season, something no Swedish player has ever done, including the more accomplished Stenson. They were all name events — the Scottish Open, European Masters, British Masters and now the Nedbank. This was his first time making it into the Nedbank and he called his win — “unbelievable.”
The last player to win four in a season was Rory McIlroy back in 2014, so this is a real eye-opener for Noren. Also makes you wonder how he wasn’t given more consideration for the European Ryder Cup team? Would the outcome have been different had Noren, Paul Casey and Russell Knox been on the team? That debate may already be going on in some pubs across the pond.
It was something that got Noren’s attention, however. “My attitude is always pretty good,” he pointed out. “Although, of course, I was disappointed with the Ryder Cup.”
There’s nothing disappointing about Noren’s season.
He knows he has a little more work to do with this week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. It’s huge, big enough where even McIlroy will show up and try to pull a rabbit out of his golf bag.
Noren’s play also has the favorite’s attention.
“Alex playing as well as he has just motivates me even more to bring my game next week and then try and be up there,” said Stenson, referring to the top of this week’s leaderboard.
It’s game-on in the desert.
Lots of sand and a lot of birdies to be made.
And Alex Noren there, the newest member of the world’s Top 10.
