ALEX Noren came from behind the leading group of players, to capture the Nedbank Golf Challenge title at Sun City in fine style on Sunday, November 13.
All eyes at the Gary Player Country Club on the concluding day, were focused on the overnight leading trio comprising South Korea’s Jeunghun Wang, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, and Andy Sullivan from England. Sweden’s Noren had to shoot a spectacular final round of 63 to win ‘Africa’s Major’.
In a dream season overall for him, Noren’s magnificent last day paved his way to a six-shot victory ultimately; he finished on a 14-under-par 274. This is his fourth European Tour victory in a season that also saw him finish runner-up once – and in the top 10 a further three times. South Korea’s
Jeunghun Wang took second place on eight under par, following his final round of 75.
Branden Grace finished as the leading South African, in a share of third place on seven under par.
“This win feels amazing. When I came here, I played pretty good coming in – the practice rounds – and started off good. I think this course is really tricky. You need to hit the right shots at the right times and be aggressive when you can; and stay back when you have to.” said Noren
“I watched this tournament on TV a lot growing up – and it’s always been a tournament I wanted to get into and finally, when the Nedbank Challenge began on Thursday November 10, I did.”
“The 64 shots yesterday (Saturday) is about a 59 today I think. Yesterday was incredibly tough with the wind and the greens were so much firmer – and you had to keep your patience yesterday. And I had some tough times on the back nine yesterday – and then today, I was kind of happy when I saw that rain coming down last night. I knew the course was going to be a little softer than yesterday, and I took advantage of it.”
“Well, I didn’t think I had a chance honestly. All I was trying to do was to get a good round in and get a good feel for next week; get a good, positive finish out of this week. I tried to work a little bit on my swing and tried to hit the shots that I needed to get around today. And anything under par, I thought would be a great score. You know, yeah, my putter was hot.”
“ I’ve always been quite anxious as a player and put so much pressure on myself. And we got a kid in February, a little girl; and that put my golf into a bit of perspective. I can’t practice as much as I did before; I kind of overdid everything and overthought golf I think – and it became a bit stressful in the end.”
“Now it’s a little bit easier, but still, it’s the same tough game and you’ve got to stay at it.”
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