Impressively, Team Europe went to New York and won the Ryder Cup on foreign soil.
It’s much more impressive when you consider they were missing one of their top eligible players.
To be honest, they actually weren’t missing it. Alex Noren was at Bethpage Black. He was even in uniform. But his role was not as a player, but as vice-captain to Luke Donald, supporting the players he had just defeated in the BMW PGA Championship.
And now he beats almost everyone else again.
A backstory: Noren wasn’t on anyone’s Ryder Cup radar midway through the 2025 season. Coming off injury, he didn’t make a start until May and recorded just one top 20 in his first seven starts of the season.
But then it caught fire.
Norwegians finished T7 at the 3M Open. He followed that with a T3 at the Wyndham Championship. He still missed the FedEx Cup play-offs, so he went abroad to fill his schedule with some DP World Tour events – and a few weeks later, in his next start, he won the Betfred British Masters, his first professional victory since 2018. He was already in the vice-captain position at the time, so it was especially notable when he served as a spoiler for the BMW PGA Championship, essentially Europe’s training camp two weeks before the Ryder Cup, where he triumphed in a play-off.
That victory moved him to No. 18 in the official world golf rankings, impressive considering his limited starts. It also placed him in the top 20 of the DataGolf rankings. In both cases, this gave him a wide lead over several players on the Team Europe roster. It was a particular oddity at this Ryder Cup, considering their opponent, Keegan Bradley, was in a similar situation; after his most recent start, the Tour Championship, he was ranked No. 11 in the world and could easily have put together his own team.
For his part, Noren shrugged his shoulders, dismissing his performance as too little too late and expressing excitement about his role.
“I think the guys in the team will be fantastic,” he told Sky Sports. “I’m really looking forward to the game, more than anything in a long time.” He described his role as “an extra pair of eyes for a few players” and volunteered for anything and everything.
“I will do whatever they ask of me,” he concluded.
The system he contributed to worked like magic during the first four sessions of the Cup, with Europe dominating team play and opening up an 11.5-4.5 lead they took into Sunday’s singles matches. That’s where the US roared and nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages before Europe finally prevailed 15-13.
As for Norwegians? He hasn’t played a tournament since his BMW PGA victory, but when he returned to action this week at the Baycurrent Classic – a PGA Tour event in Japan – he didn’t seem to have missed a beat. After rounds of 69-65, he sits halfway in T2, four shots off leader Max Greyserman.
“I was a bit rusty having had about two weeks off after Wentworth and it was good to have a few days last week,” Noren said, speaking about his recovery from the Ryder Cup festivities. “And when I came here, it was difficult because of the jet lag, but my coach is here, which helps a lot. And me, my coach and my caddy are a good team, they keep me aligned and in control. So if I have a few good days with him, I think it’s enough to just go back to golf.”
Noren described himself as impressed by the extent to which playing partners Wyndham Clark and He also has the confidence of a recent multiple winner on this tour.
“Yes, I think that’s where the biggest lessons can be learned [wins] is that you don’t have to hit every shot well, you just have to stick with it, stick to your practice, your routines and the good play will come naturally. If you like to go through your motions and emotions more and not stick to your game plan, then it’s tough.
Noren is almost assured of PGA Tour status next season. He is number 113 in the FedEx Cup (and improving), but is also in position to take the fourth of the ten cards available to DP World Tour players who are otherwise not qualified. Still, he could improve that status. He could also expand his collection of recent trophies with something a little different:
His first PGA Tour victory.
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