Nordea Masters on the European Tour concludes with Alexander Noren on top
Nordea Masters on the European Tour has come to a conclusion with crowd favourite, Alexander Noren, winning his third European Tour title with an overwhelming lead, although the Swede fell in for no fewer than five bogeys in his final round.
The 29-year-old, who has already won the Saab Wales Open in June, just before the Open Championship, owed most part of his victory to his record-thrashing round on Saturday where he pulled in a mammoth nine-under, 63.
American Bubba Watson was the only player on the third day, who posed a serious threat to Noren, although he was still miles away from the young Swede. Watson utilized his long-hitting capabilities on one of the longest courses on the tour, to edge past
the rest of the field on Saturday but also succumbed to the difficult wind-swept final day on Bro Hof Slott. He fell in for a final round of six-over, 78 to slide down the leaderboard, finishing for a joint sixth.
None of the players in the field were able to break par on Sunday except for the Englishman Richard Finch, who posted a final round score of three-under, 69 to finish for an outright second. He pulled in six birdies, one of them being a 70-foot putt on the
16th, until he fell in for a nasty triple-bogey on the treacherous 17th.
“For seventeen holes it’s the best round of golf I’ve ever played - absolutely delighted,” said Finch. “It was a tough day. The course is tough enough as it is without however many mile an hour winds it is blowing. Luckily I managed to get off to a great
start with a couple of birdies in the bank, and managed to keep the momentum going.”
American Dustin Johnson, the highest ranked player in the event, started to warm up to the tournament in the last two rounds with his scores of 67 and 74, but unfortunately he woke up only to find Noren miles ahead of the whole pack. Johnson was the runner-up
in the Open Championship a fortnight ago and has posted some decent finishes for the season.
Another Swede, Niklas Lemke pulled in a dazzling performance, finishing for an outright third, trailing the leader by 10 shots. Robert Karlsson, the former European number one, finished for a disappointing joint 16th after his sloppy final round
score of 77. His namesake, Robert Karlsson the amateur, and the first round leader of the event, finished for a joint 24th with his final round score of 78.
Only 75 players were able to survive the cut through the halfway mark and Karlsson was the only amateur who made through the tough Bro Hof Slott course. This was the third victory on the tour for the 29-year-old Noren who also collected a cheque of € 250,000.
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