Tournament: BMW PGA Championship
Venue: Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, England
Prize Fund: US$9,000,000
Race to Dubai: Tournament 35 of 42
Rolex Series: Tournament 3 of 5
Back 9: Tournament 4 of 9
Round Four Report
Alex Noren claimed his 12th DP World Tour title as he defeated Adrian Saddier in a play-off to win his second BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.
The Swede, who famously carded a final round course record-equalling ten under par 62 to win this event in 2017, started the day in a share of the lead with the Frenchman as he sought his second victory in the space of just three weeks after triumphing at the Betfred British Masters 21 days ago.
The 43-year-old held a one-stroke lead after the front nine, but Saddier hit back after the turn as he carded four birdies coming home. Noren birdied the 12th and 13th and the pair matched each other with gains on the 17th as they moved to 19 under with one hole to play.
They both made par on the 18th to force a play-off, and on the first extra hole they went blow-for-blow down the left-hand side of the formidable par five. Facing tricky chips, Saddier went over the green and was left with a tricky downhill putt, while Noren hit his attempt to three feet.
Saddier missed his putt on the low side, with Noren making no mistake with his birdie effort to seal the victory and move ahead of Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson to become the Swede with the most victories in Tour history.
Aaron Rai and Patrick Reed shared third place on 16 under par, while Ryder Cup trio Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor Hovland, Scotsman Ewen Ferguson, South Africa’s Darren Fichardt and Si Woo Kim of South Korea were a shot further back in a share of fifth.
A grand total of £72,000 was raised for the Golf Foundation, the Official Charity of the BMW PGA Championship, as part of the Eagles for Education initiative. The BMW Group donated £1,000 for every eagle made during the week, with the fourth yielding the most with 25 during the four tournament rounds.
Winner’s Quotes
Alex Noren: I love it. This tournament is unbelievable. I told all the guys in the States to come over here. I think it’s one of the best tournaments in the whole world. It just gets better every year. I’m so grateful we have these kind of tournaments.
Amazing. It was such a tough, emotional back nine. He played very well, Adrien, and I thought the leaderboard was kind of stacked the whole way down to 13, 14. It just kept going.
I knew the conditions were going to be tough the last seven holes. It’s a weird one because you can’t just wait for the rain to come. Hard to focus on the game, as well, because you know it’s tough and you don’t know how bad it’s going to be.
I was extremely happy to first, get in the playoff, and felt a little bit more relaxed, a little bit better weather on the playoff hole.
It’s so many emotions right now. In the playoff, like felt a little bit easier than maybe coming down the 72nd hole, a little bit better conditions. I thought I hit that one in the water. But I had a great lie so tried to put it up here on the right side of the green and fortunate with a good break. The chip was sitting quite nicely. I saw his ball didn’t catch as nice of a break maybe. It makes a difference.
I hit my iron shots way better the first three days, and today, I was kind of struggling a little bit. I hit it good off the tee but my iron shots just felt a little tough. My putting, chipping, got some long putts going in.
You know, you’ve just got to fight. Sometimes it comes too easy and sometimes you’ve just got to fight and today it felt like a fight. I think he probably outplayed me tee-to-green. But that’s how it goes.
Scores after Round Four:
269 A NOREN (SWE) 67 68 66 68, A SADDIER (FRA) 69 67 65 68,
272 A RAI (ENG) 68 67 71 66, P REED (USA) 69 68 69 66,
273 S KIM (KOR) 71 70 68 64, E FERGUSON (SCO) 67 68 71 67, M FITZPATRICK (ENG) 66 71 69 67, D FICHARDT (RSA) 67 70 68 68, V HOVLAND (NOR) 67 66 71 69, T HATTON (ENG) 69 70 64 70,
274 T MCKIBBIN (NIR) 69 70 69 66, M LEE (AUS) 68 73 67 66,
275 J RAHM (ESP) 71 69 69 66, H MATSUYAMA (JPN) 68 64 76 67, M PENGE (ENG) 68 69 71 67, M COUVRA (FRA) 68 71 69 67, A OTAEGUI (UAE) 67 71 69 68, O LINDELL (FIN) 67 71 69 68, H HALL (ENG) 68 71 67 69,
276 R MCILROY (NIR) 69 72 70 65, R NEERGAARD-PETERSEN (DEN) 73 69 67 67, J NIEMANN (CHI) 72 70 65 69, L ?BERG (SWE) 64 69 73 70,
277 S CROCKER (USA) 69 70 70 68, J SMITH (ENG) 69 72 68 68, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 69 70 69 69, E VAN ROOYEN (RSA) 72 70 66 69, F LAPORTA (ITA) 68 71 68 70, K REITAN (NOR) 72 68 67 70, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 71 70 66 70,
278 D BRADBURY (ENG) 73 68 71 66, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 67 67 76 68, J VEERMAN (USA) 70 72 68 68, C SYME (SCO) 69 72 68 69, A ROZNER (FRA) 66 75 68 69, E SMYLIE (AUS) 71 68 69 70, T VAILLANT (FRA) 64 75 68 71,
279 C JARVIS (RSA) 65 74 73 67, B ROBINSON THOMPSON (ENG) 68 73 70 68, A SCOTT (AUS) 70 69 71 69, R GERARD (USA) 73 66 71 69, D NAIDOO (RSA) 69 69 71 70, B STONE (RSA) 71 69 69 70, E CHACARRA (ESP) 69 71 69 70, R RAMSAY (SCO) 66 69 72 72,
280 A HIDALGO (ESP) 71 67 75 67, T FLEETWOOD (ENG) 73 69 71 67, R FOX (NZL) 73 69 69 69, T DETRY (BEL) 69 73 69 69, K KOBORI (NZL) 69 69 72 70, S LOWRY (IRL) 67 74 68 71, L CANTER (ENG) 73 67 68 72, M WALLACE (ENG) 69 73 66 72,
281 Y PAUL (GER) 69 73 70 69, D HILLIER (NZL) 68 72 71 70, S NORRIS (RSA) 70 72 69 70, R GOUVEIA (POR) 74 68 69 70, A AYORA (ESP) 70 72 68 71, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 66 71 72 72, Y KATSURAGAWA (JPN) 67 73 69 72,
282 D RAVETTO (FRA) 68 72 72 70, J ROSE (ENG) 67 66 76 73,
283 J LUITEN (NED) 70 72 70 71, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 72 70 69 72, S BAIRSTOW (ENG) 67 71 72 73,
284 J WINTHER (DEN) 70 71 72 71, D WILLETT (ENG) 70 72 71 71, T PIETERS (BEL) 70 72 71 71, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 69 73 69 73,
285 J CAMPILLO (ESP) 72 70 71 72, H LI (CHN) 70 71 68 76, J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 68 71 69 77,
286 J KO (FRA) 68 74 71 73,
**
214 J SCHAPER (RSA) 72 70 72, R MACINTYRE (SCO) 71 71 72, N ELVIRA (ESP) 71 71 72, F LACROIX (FRA) 69 73 72, N NORGAARD (DEN) 70 71 73, A FITZPATRICK (ENG) 70 71 73,
215 D WHITNELL (ENG) 71 70 74, M BALDWIN (ENG) 73 68 74, U COUSSAUD (FRA) 70 70 75,
216 R JOHNSTON (USA) 70 72 74,
217 T CLEMENTS (ENG) 70 71 76,
218 A PAVAN (ITA) 71 71 76,
221 J DEAN (ENG) 71 71 79,
**
143 B SCHMIDT (ENG) 73 70, D BURMESTER (RSA) 72 71, C CONNERS (CAN) 76 67, M MANASSERO (ITA) 74 69, L DONALD (ENG) 72 71, M KIEFFER (GER) 71 72, D MICHELUZZI (AUS) 68 75, J VEGAS (VEN) 70 73, B KOEPKA (USA) 75 68, B HORSCHEL (USA) 73 70, R MANSELL (ENG) 73 70, C HILL (SCO) 71 72,
144 M JORDAN (ENG) 72 72, J GUERRIER (FRA) 71 73, M SCHMID (GER) 71 73, A GARCIA-HEREDIA (ESP) 70 74, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 69 75, A COCKERILL (CAN) 68 76, M KIM (USA) 74 70, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 71 73, J PARRY (ENG) 72 72,
145 M ELVIRA (ESP) 71 74, A DEL REY (ESP) 78 67, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 72 73, D BROWN (ENG) 74 71, P O’HARA (SCO) 73 72, S SHARMA (IND) 71 74,
146 S JAMIESON (SCO) 71 75, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 72 74, A MERONK (POL) 77 69, T LAWRENCE (RSA) 73 73, M PAVON (FRA) 75 71, S FORSSTR?M (SWE) 72 74, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 67 79, P HARRINGTON (IRL) 73 73, P RODGERS (USA) 71 75,
147 B WIESBERGER (AUT) 74 73, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 72 75, D FRITTELLI (RSA) 70 77, F MOLINARI (ITA) 72 75, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 72 75,
149 R H?JGAARD (DEN) 74 75, T AIKEN (RSA) 75 74,
150 M KINHULT (SWE) 78 72, G FORREST (SCO) 75 75, N H?JGAARD (DEN) 78 72, J GUMBERG (USA) 74 76,
151 K NAKAJIMA (JPN) 76 75, I CANTERO (ESP) 72 79, G GREEN (MAS) 75 76,
154 A SULLIVAN (ENG) 77 77,
**
OUT M SIEM (GER) DQ ,
