Alex Noren entered the final round at the BMW PGA Championship tied for 20th, seven strokes behind leader Andrew Dodt of Australia, and with 17 other world-class professional golfers between him and the leader.
But after shooting a course-record 10-under 62 on Sunday, highlighted by an eagle on the 18th, the 34-year-old Swede beat them all, and captured the BMW PGA.
At the halfway point, with Noren in the clubhouse at 11-under, Dodt, Henrik Stenson, Shane Lowry, Hideto Tanihara, and Branden Grace were in a five-way tie at 9 under, and the odds seemed high that one would be able to at least force a playoff. But all five faded down the stretch, leaving Noren with a full two stroke cushion.
Italy’s Francesco Molinari birdied the final two holes to finish solo-second at 9-under, a shot ahead of Stenson, Tanihara and Nicolas Colsaerts, who also eagled the 18th to jump into the top-5.
It was Noren’s fifth European Tour title in the last 11 months.
Noren since July:
? AAM Scottish Open
? Omega European Masters
? British Masters
? Nedbank Golf Challenge
? BMW PGA5 wins. 17 starts. pic.twitter.com/2x3DCZORAQ
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 28, 2017
The Oklahoma State product seems to be fully healed from debilitating wrist injuries which impacted big chunks of his career between 2012 and 2014. During this time, Noren’s world golf ranking plummeted.
But since his win at the Scottish Open last July, Noren has been one of the very best golfers in the world. He will be leaving Wentworth tonight ranked inside the top-10.
The win for Noren was worth £894,000 or $1,145,124.60 US.
Winner’s Scorecard
Tip your cap @Alex_Noren! pic.twitter.com/FmX0n4thG5
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 28, 2017
Quotable
? Leader in the clubhouse pic.twitter.com/30xfHY6mgv
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 28, 2017
? A major week pic.twitter.com/aweUzOXA5f
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 28, 2017
“It feels very amazing and very crazy, because I had no intention of trying to win this morning. You know, I didn’t even think about it, and I came off the course quite angry yesterday of playing a good round, 2-under, and then kind of chipping into the water from the back of the green on 18. So it’s a great feeling now, but it feels unreal, yeah.”
–Alex Noren, 2017 BMW PGA Champion
The Celebration
???????? pic.twitter.com/6aa5LywTgp
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 28, 2017
Final Leaderboard
| POS | PLAYER | TOT | R4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Noren | -11 | -10 |
| 2 | Francesco Molinari | -9 | -4 |
| T3 | Nicolas Colsaerts | -8 | -7 |
| T3 | Henrik Stenson | -8 | -4 |
| T3 | Hideto Tanihara | -8 | -4 |
| T6 | Graeme Storm | -7 | -4 |
| T6 | Shane Lowry | -7 | -3 |
| T6 | Andrew Dodt | -7 | 1 |
| T9 | Dean Burmester | -6 | -7 |
| T9 | Ross Fisher | -6 | -3 |
| T9 | Branden Grace | -6 | 1 |
| T12 | Matthew Fitzpatrick | -5 | -6 |
| T12 | Justin Rose | -5 | -5 |
| T14 | Alexander Bjork | -4 | -6 |
| T14 | Jaco Van Zyl | -4 | -5 |
| T14 | Thomas Pieters | -4 | -3 |
| T14 | Nino Bertasio | -4 | -2 |
| T14 | Scott Jamieson | -4 | -1 |
| T14 | Kiradech Aphibarnrat | -4 | -1 |
| T14 | Lee Westwood | -4 | 1 |
| T21 | Peter Hanson | -3 | -4 |
| T21 | Stephen Gallacher | -3 | -3 |
| T21 | Andrew Johnston | -3 | E |
| T24 | Pablo Larrazabal | -2 | -6 |
| T24 | Scott Hend | -2 | -3 |
| T24 | Victor Dubuisson | -2 | -2 |
| T24 | Byeong Hun An | -2 | E |
| T24 | Joost Luiten | -2 | E |
| T24 | Maximilian Kieffer | -2 | 1 |
| T30 | Hao-tong Li | -1 | -5 |
| T30 | Matteo Manassero | -1 | -4 |
| T30 | Paul Dunne (a) | -1 | -3 |
| T30 | Andrew Sullivan | -1 | -2 |
| T30 | Soren Kjeldsen | -1 | -1 |
| T30 | Florian Fritsch | -1 | -1 |
| T30 | Bernd Wiesberger | -1 | E |
| T30 | Peter Uihlein | -1 | E |
| T30 | Richie Ramsay | -1 | 1 |
| T30 | Tyrrell Hatton | -1 | 2 |
| T40 | Bernd Ritthammer | E | -3 |
| T40 | Ian Poulter | E | -2 |
| T40 | Anthony Wall | E | -2 |
| T40 | Paul Peterson | E | -2 |
| T40 | Jorge Campillo | E | E |
| T40 | Oliver Fisher | E | 1 |
| T40 | Jordan Smith | E | 2 |
| T40 | Bradley Dredge | E | 3 |
| 48 | David Howell | 1 | -2 |
| T49 | Chris Wood | 2 | -1 |
| T49 | David Drysdale | 2 | E |
| T51 | David Horsey | 3 | -1 |
| T51 | Ernie Els | 3 | E |
| T51 | Alexander Levy | 3 | E |
| T54 | Thongchai Jaidee | 4 | E |
| T54 | Daniel Brooks | 4 | 1 |
| T54 | Niclas Fasth | 4 | 5 |
| 57 | Thomas Bjorn | 5 | -1 |
| T58 | Danny Willett | 6 | 1 |
| T58 | Johan Carlsson | 6 | 2 |
| T58 | S.s.p Chawrasia | 6 | 3 |
| T58 | Benjamin Herbert | 6 | 4 |
| T62 | Mikko Ilonen | 8 | 3 |
| T62 | Gregory Bourdy | 8 | 5 |
| 64 | Sebastien Gros | 11 | 3 |
| 65 | Luke Donald | 12 | 4 |
| 66 | Romain Wattel | 13 | 3 |
| - | Lasse Jensen | CUT | - |
| - | Russell Knox | CUT | - |
| - | Paul Lawrie | CUT | - |
| - | Padraig Harrington | CUT | - |
| - | Marcus Fraser | CUT | - |
| - | Alvaro Quiros | CUT | - |
| - | Richard Sterne | CUT | - |
| - | Felipe Aguilar | CUT | - |
| - | David Lipsky | CUT | - |
| - | Damien McGrane | CUT | - |
| - | Darren Fichardt | CUT | - |
| - | James Morrison | CUT | - |
| - | Rikard Karlberg | CUT | - |
| - | Raphael Jacquelin | CUT | - |
| - | Marc Warren | CUT | - |
| - | Jason Scrivener | CUT | - |
| - | Thorbjorn Olesen | CUT | - |
| - | Jamie Donaldson | CUT | - |
| - | Paul Waring | CUT | - |
| - | Eduardo De La Riva | CUT | - |
| - | Robert Rock | CUT | - |
| - | Trevor Immelman | CUT | - |
| - | Wade Ormsby | CUT | - |
| - | Carlos Pigem | CUT | - |
| - | Gary Stal | CUT | - |
| - | Jeunghun Wang | CUT | - |
| - | Chris Hanson | CUT | - |
| - | Pelle Edberg | CUT | - |
| - | Martin Kaymer | CUT | - |
| - | Tommy Fleetwood | CUT | - |
| - | Romain Langasque (a) | CUT | - |
| - | George Coetzee | CUT | - |
| - | Nacho Elvira | CUT | - |
| - | Adrian Otaegui | CUT | - |
| - | Robert Karlsson | CUT | - |
| - | Darren Clarke | CUT | - |
| - | Richard Bland | CUT | - |
| - | Brandon Stone | CUT | - |
| - | Gregory Havret | CUT | - |
| - | Ryan Fox | CUT | - |
| - | Matthieu Pavon | CUT | - |
| - | Pep Angles | CUT | - |
| - | Justin Walters | CUT | - |
| - | Magnus Carlsson | CUT | - |
| - | Soomin Lee | CUT | - |
| - | Thomas Aiken | CUT | - |
| - | Phachara Khongwatmai | CUT | - |
| - | Mikko Korhonen | CUT | - |
| - | Alexander Knappe | CUT | - |
| - | Greig Hutcheon | CUT | - |
| - | Edoardo Molinari | CUT | - |
| - | Haydn Porteous | CUT | - |
| - | Lee Slattery | CUT | - |
| - | Dylan Frittelli | CUT | - |
| - | Chris Gane | CUT | - |
| - | Michael Lorenzo-Vera | CUT | - |
| - | Fabrizio Zanotti | CUT | - |
| - | Kristoffer Broberg | CUT | - |
| - | Matthew Southgate | CUT | - |
| - | Ricardo Gouveia | CUT | - |
| - | Paul Streeter | CUT | - |
| - | Paul Hendriksen | CUT | - |
| - | Alejandro Canizares | CUT | - |
| - | Zander Lombard | CUT | - |
| - | Marcel Siem | CUT | - |
| - | Simon Dyson | CUT | - |
| - | Matthew Cort | CUT | - |
| - | Matt Wallace | CUT | - |
| - | Joakim Lagergren | CUT | - |
| - | Renato Paratore | CUT | - |
| - | Chris Paisley | CUT | - |
| - | Graham Fox | CUT | - |
| - | Sam Brazel | CUT | - |
| - | Julien Quesne | CUT | - |
| - | Philip Archer | CUT | - |
| - | Lucas Bjerregaard | CUT | - |
| - | Daniel Im | CUT | - |
| - | Sam Walker | CUT | - |
| - | Hennie Otto | CUT | - |
| - | Neil O'briain | CUT | - |
| - | Robert Coles | CUT | - |
| - | Nathan Holman | WD | - |
| - | Brett Rumford | WD | - |
| - | Callum Shinkwin | DQ | - |
