Prior to jumping in an airplane to serve as a vice-captain of the European team at the Ryder Cup in New York, Alex Noren claimed his 12th DP World Tour title When he defeated Adrian Saddier in a play-off to win the BMW PGA championships in Wentworth.
The Swede, who bought a final round 62 famous to win this event in 2017, started the final round in a part of the lead with Saddier when he sought his second victory in the space of just three weeks after winning Betfred British Masters in the Belfry.
The 43-year-old gave a lead of one battle after the front nine, but Saddier hit back after his turn when he got four Birdies pub that came home. Norwegians Birdied 12 and 13 and the couple fit each other with a win on the Parcart 17th while moving to 19 with one hole to play.
They both made par on the difficult 18th to force a play-off, and on the first extra hole with the rain that poured down for a full house through the left side of the formidable par five. Faced with difficult chips, Saddier went over the green and was left with a difficult downhill putt, while Norwegians hit his attempt to three feet.
Saddier missed his putt on the low side, where Norwegians made no mistake with his attempt to seal the victory and to go for Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson to become the Swede with the most victories in Tour history.
Norwegians only spoke a few hours before he came to New York at his European Ryder Cup Squad, said: “I think it’s great here. This tournament is incredible. I told all the guys in the States to get here, and many of them did that. I think it is one of the best tournaments in the world and it gets better every year.
He added: “It was such a tough back nine in those circumstances – when you just wait for the rain. Adrien played very well, and I thought the leaderboard had stacked a bit all the way to 13, 14. It just continued.
“You know, you just have to fight. Sometimes it’s too easy and sometimes you just have to fight and today it felt like a fight. I think he [Saddier] Probably I surpassed me t-te-green. But that’s how it goes. “
Aaron Rai and Patrick Reed sharpened the third place at 16, while Ryder Cup Trio Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor HOvland connected to Ewen Ferguson, Darren Fichardt and Si Woo Kim a shot further back in a share of fifth.
Click for all scores from Wentworth here.
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