Sweden’s Alex Noren was handed an early birthday present and now heading to this week’s Open Championship in the best possible form after capturing the Scottish Open at Inverness.
Noren, who turns 34 on Tuesday, celebrated a fifth European Tour victory courtesy of a closing round 70 and winning by a shot with a 14-under par tally in rainy conditions on the Castle Stuart course.
Noren went into the last day leading by two shots and despite New Zealand’s Danny Lee drawing level near mid-round, and while the Monaco-based player admitted to being nervous, he was never headed and moving back to two shots clear of his rivals with birdies at the 12th and 15th holes.
The Swede, who had been side-lined for all of 2014 with tendinitis in both wrists, was challenged by England’s Tyrrell Hatton who birdied the last in a round of 69 for a 13-under par tally, but Noren held on holing a short par at the last to claim the Euro 645,000 first prize cheque and the highest of his 11-year pro career.
Swede Alex Noren captures 2016 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.
“I was just so nervous the whole day today but when the game doesn’t feel as good as it looks, you just want it be over somehow and come up with the win and that’s what happened,” he said.
“But then it feels really good to win and to be headed now to The Open though I have been having trouble with my driver a bit and the guys at Callaway changed the driver for me to one where the ball doesn’t go too much right.
“So the driver has been great and that is kind of what has been lacking in my game the weeks before this week, and by hitting more fairways at I have done this week then it helps in playing golf on links courses like this.
“And this is by far the biggest win, the amount of players that are here, and on a course like this in Scotland, it’s only what I dreamt of growing up.”
Hatton, 24 also secured the biggest cheque of his short five-year pro career in earning Euro 430,000 after being tied with three others and with a hole to play.
It is Hatton’s second runners-up finish on the Tour and also earned him a place in this week’s Open Championship.
Three players – Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts (66), New Zealand’s Danny Lee (69) and Italy’s Matteo Manassero (70) – shared third place on 12-under par.
Manassero’s effort is his highest finish on the European Tour since fourth in the same event two years ago, and also earned the 23-year old a place in this week’s Open Championship.
In 2010, the then 17-year old Verona-born Manassero became the youngest winner in the history of the Tour in capturing the Castellon Masters. Two years later, he climbed to a career high of No. 25 in the world.
However, in teeing-up in northern Scotland the Italian had slumped to No. 596th on the World Rankings.
His share of third, along with a place in this week’s Open, could see a turnaround for the better in Manassero’s game.
“This is a really good moment for me, and all these struggles and hard work and stuff are obviously paying off and hopefully next time I’ll be holding a trophy,” he said.
Joining Manassero and Hatton in securing spots into Royal Troon was Colsaerts and Scotland’s Richie Ramsay (67) who shared sixth place on 11-under par.
The American duo of Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson also head to Royal Troon in decent form with Reed birding two of his closing three holes in a score of 67 to share ninth place on nine under par.
Mickelson, wearing a golf club on each hand to combat the wet weather and something he intends to adopt this week at Royal Troon, finished with a 66 to share 13th place at seven under par.
