Fresh off the back of the finest year of his career, Alex Noren enters 2017 as one of the hottest players in the game – and hungry for more of the same after four wins in 2016. The softly-spoken, laid back Swede produced some of the finest displays of iron play and clutch putting to finish third on last year’s Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex with almost €4million in earnings. When you consider that in 2014 Noren only managed to play twice on the European Tour after suffering with tendonitis in both wrists, his recent feats are even more remarkable.
Scottish Open Kickstart
After a share of 35th place at Abu Dhabi was his best result in the three Middle East Swing events, Noren’s 2016 campaign was a slow burner before his form began to pick up. He posted back-to-back top tens in the Open de Espana and the Volvo China Open and then, on the windy links of Castle Stuart in July, Noren clinched the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, holding off the challenge of Tyrrell Hatton down the stretch.
“The Scottish Open was a huge win for me,” says Noren. “Especially coming down the last couple of holes. It was quite a tough wind, and being able to par those two felt like I could stand my ground under pressure, which is always a confidence boost. That made it a lot easier the next time I had a chance to win, because although I was nervous over those last few holes, I knew I could handle it.”
€3,995,053 in the bank
From there his form went into orbit. He reached the final of the Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Match Play, losing out to Anthony Wall, but bounced back with victory at the Omega European Masters in his next start. Wins at the British Masters supported by Sky Sports and then the Nedbank Golf Challenge in the penultimate event of the campaign saw him record the finest season of his career with €3,995,053 in prize money.
It took Noren 214 events to win his first four European Tour titles. The next four came in an incredible 11 event spell.
“I changed coaches two years ago, and I got a lot of help from that, in understanding my swing a little bit more. I’m a little bit more relaxed because of that,” he smiles. “Then, obviously, with a win comes a lot of confidence, and with that – I’m just trying to keep improving.
“I got such a boost by pulling off the victory at the Scottish Open that it helped me to achieve the win at the European Masters in Crans-Sur-Sierre. It’s a belief that you don’t have to play perfect golf, you don’t have to hit every shot perfect to win. I used to think that that was the case.
“You watch TV and you see the top, amazing players not missing a shot, but that’s not the reality of the situation. As long as you manage your game and miss it in the right places and hole enough putts and chip well enough, you’ve got a chance.
“When you’ve done all that, then you can see that you are able to win without having the internal pressure of saying to yourself that you have to hit every shot perfect.
Play More Golf not Practice
“I think that’s been the difference. Rather than practice for hours on the range or on the putting green, I’ve tried to play a lot more golf, so I’m more used to being on the golf course and experiencing certain situations.
“So I’ve enjoyed being on the golf course a lot more and enjoyed hitting an 8-iron to ten yards and making par with a tough pin position and not just think ‘oh, I need to hit it really close’ all the time. That’s what all the best players are doing – they score well and manage everything well. Just get a good round in and learn to get good rounds in during practice and during tournaments – and not try too hard to be perfect.”
Quite often players have fairytale seasons on the European Tour and immediately try their hand at conquering the US PGA Tour, but Noren believes that more Europeans will now stay closer to home thanks to the announcement of the new Rolex Series.
“I think if you have all those Rolex tournaments in the future and in addition you have the World Golf Championships and the Majors – that in itself is a great schedule.
“I think all of us Europeans love playing in America, but we love playing in Europe, and we are used to going to Asia and Africa and playing. Nowadays there are so many good players in Europe, and if a player wants to live in Sweden, or France or Italy, then you can, and still have a great schedule.”
Noren is all set to start his 2017 campaign where he left off – as one of the in-form players in the game – and he’s looking forward to teeing it up in the Middle East again. “The Middle East Swing is a perfect place to start the campaign,” said Noren. “The weather is always perfect, the facilities are great and it’s just a fantastic place to knock off any rust and get up and running for the season ahead.”
