DP World Tour, Noren wins in playoff
Sweden’s Alex Noren won the BMW PGA Championship, a flagship tournament of the DP World Tour included in the Rolex Series and considered a sort of “fifth Major.” He finished the 71st edition of the event with 269 (67 68 66 68, -19) strokes, tied with France’s Adrien Saddier (269 – 69 67 65 68), and then overtook him with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
On the course of the Wentworth Club (par 72), at Virginia Water in England, where eleven of the twelve players who will be part of Team Europe at the upcoming Ryder Cup (Bethpage Black Course, Farmingdale, New York, Sept. 26-28) took the field, the two contenders, both at the top after three rounds, shot a 68 (-4), Noren with five birdies and a bogey and Saddier with four birdies, then on the last green they both missed the putt to win and in the playoff the Swede had the game won thanks largely to an excellent third flag shot.
In the tournament, where Guido Migliozzi and Francesco Laporta finished 24th.i with 277 (-11), three members of the continental team that will play the challenge against Team USA, Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick and LIV Golf member Tyrrell Hatton and Norwegian Viktor Hovland, a trio joined by South African Darren Fichardt, Scotsman Ewen Ferguson and Korean Si Woo Kim, occupied third with 272 (-16) and fifth with 273 (-15). In 20th with 276 (-12) is Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, world number two.
Noren, 43, of Stockholm, 307 appearances on the circuit with 12 wins, captured his second season in less than a month (the other in the British Masters in August) after being on a seven-year fast (his tenth in the 2018 Open de France). Also on his roster is 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, Dane Thomas Bjorn and Spaniard José Maria Olazabal. For the feat, he received a check for $1,530,000 out of a prize pool of $9,000,000. Adrien Saddier, 33, of Annemasse, missed out on his second career laurel after hitting the Italian Open in late June on the Argentario Golf Club course.
Guido Migliozzi (71 70 66 70) and Francesco Laporta (68 71 68 70), who dropped 12 places in the final round, closed with a 70 (-2). The former posted five birdies and three bogeys and the Apulian three birdies and one bogey. However, final round aside, the good overall performance of the two blues remains.
Out in the second cut, after 54 holes, came Andrea Pavan, 85th with 218 (71 71 76, +2), and in the first half of the tournament Matteo Manassero, 87th with 143 (74 69, -1), and Francesco Molinari, 123rd with 147 (72 75, +3).
