Sweden's Alex Noren won the BMW PGA Championship, the flagship tournament of the DP World Tour, part of the Rolex Series and considered a sort of "fifth Major." He finished the 71st edition of the event with a 269 (67 68 66 68, -19) shot, tied with France's Adrien Saddier (269 69 67 65 68), and then surpassed him with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
Alex Noren, results
On the par-72 Wentworth Club course at Virginia Water, England, where eleven of the twelve players who will be part of Team Europe at the next Ryder Cup (Bethpage Black Course, Farmingdale, New York, September 26-28) took to the field, the two contenders, both leading after three rounds, shot a 68 (-4), Noren with five birdies and a bogey and Saddier with four birdies. Then, on the final green, they both missed a putt to win, and in the playoff, the Swede won the match thanks largely to an excellent third putt.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the tournament, where Guido Migliozzi and Francesco Laporta finished 24th with a 277 (-11), American Patrick Reed and Englishman Aaron Rai occupied third place with a 272 (-16), and fifth place with a 273 (-15) was occupied by three members of the continental team that will compete against Team USA: Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton, a member of LIV Golf, and Norwegian Viktor Hovland, a trio joined by South African Darren Fichardt, Scotsman Ewen Ferguson, and Korean Si Woo Kim. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, world number two, finished 20th with a 276 (-12).
Noren, a 43-year-old from Stockholm, with 307 appearances on the tour and twelve victories, achieved his second title of the season in less than a month (the other at the British Masters in August) after a seven-year drought (the tenth at the 2018 Open de France). His list of honors also includes a title on the HotelPlanner Tour. He alternates on the PGA Tour and will be one of five vice-captains on Team Europe, along with the Molinari brothers, Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, and Spain's Jos Maria Olazabal. For his exploits, he received a check for $1,530,000 out of a $9,000,000 prize pool. Adrien Saddier, 33, from Annemasse, missed out on the second career title after winning the Italian Open at the end of June on the Argentario Golf Club course.
ADVERTISEMENT
Guido Migliozzi (71 70 66 70) and Francesco Laporta (68 71 68 70), who dropped twelve places in the final round, finished with a 70 (-2). The former recorded five birdies and three bogeys, while the Apulian recorded three birdies and one bogey. Regardless, the final score aside, the two Italians performed well overall.
Andrea Pavan, 85th with a 218 (71-71-76, +2), exited in the second cut after 54 holes. Matteo Manassero, 87th with a 143 (74-69, -1), and Francesco Molinari, 123rd with a 147 (72-75, +3), exited in the first cut at the halfway point of the tournament.
