Swede success and Danish delight at British Masters as Ryder Cup spot secured

At one point, it looked as though his twin brother, Nicolai, would also be popping open the champagne when he held a two-shot on the back nine in the closing round of the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo at the Sutton Coldfield venue.

Instead, it was Swede Alex Noren who came out on top at the end of an intriguing four days, landing this title for a second time after holing a testing par putt on the 18th green on the Brabazon Course to repeat his triumph at The Grove near London nine years ago.

It was Noren’s 11th DP World Tour win but his first since landing the Open de France in 2018 - the year he played on a winning Ryder Cup team under another Scandinavian, Thomas Bjorn, at Le Golf National in France.

Rasmus Hojgaard, who admitted it had been mission accomplished after the “most stressful round of my career”, joined Rory McIlroy, Bob MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton in securing a guaranteed spot on the European team for next month’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

Shane Lowry now needs captain’s pick for Bethpage Black

Lowry now has to rely on a captain’s pick along with the likes of Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Matthew Fitzpatrick, who led heading into the final day in the Midlands but had to settle for a share of sixth spot after a disappointing 74.

Donald will announce his six selections next Monday, meaning someone can still influence the final decision in this week’s Omega European Masters in Switzerland. But, even though he’s playing at Crans-sur-Sierre and has won there as well in the past, Noren insisted he’s not in the reckoning.

“Yeah, I've only played 11 tournaments or something since my injury,” said the 43-year-old, who couldn’t run, jump or swing a golf club after tearing a tendon in his hamstring back in January. “So I'm not expecting anything like that. I'm just focusing on my game and trying to get back in form like this more often.”

New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori finished birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie - he rolled in a 60-footer from the bottom tier on the last green - to sign off with a best-of-the-day 65 and set the clubhouse target on 15 under in the opening event on the DP World Tour’s ‘Back 9 Swing’.

Helped by a timely burst of three straight birdies from the 15th, Noren held a two-shot lead standing on the 18th tee only to push his drive into the trees and find himself having to lay up short of the water. He didn’t make it any easier by then missing the green with his third and giving himself a longer putt for the victory than he would have liked, but, not for the first time in his career, Noren showed he is a cool customer. A 67 to finish saw him win by a shot from both Kobori and Nicolai Hojgaard.

“This felt maybe bigger (than 2016) because it was a long time ago since I won,” he admitted, having finished in the top three eight times around the world since he last savoured the sweet taste of success, picking up $595,000 and being presented with the trophy by six-time major winner Faldo on this occasion. “I've been having my good times and bad times. Especially this year when it started great after the injury, and then it kind of slowed.”

Having played together on the opening three days at the four-time Ryder Cup venue, Noren was delighted to hear that Hojgaard had achieved his goal, having come into the week needing to finish in a two-way tie for 29th or better to jump above Lowry and heaving a huge sigh of relief as he ended up in joint-13th.

“Today was the most stressful round I've had in my career so far, especially knowing what's at stake,” admitted the 24-year-old, who was congratulated by both Donald and Thomas Bjorn, one of his vice captains, in separate phone calls after signing for his card.

“I got off to a good start and I was battling some thoughts out there, which is normal. I managed to put myself under pressure after making a couple of bogeys down the back nine. But I managed to get in the clubhouse with a birdie coming in and it feels great to be here now.”

Hojgaard was inside the ropes when sibling Nicolai made his Ryder Cup debut in Italy two years ago. “I was very happy that I saw Rome up close with everything that's going on and I could see how tough it is on the players,” he said, smiling. “It's going to be very, very stressful now, even more stressful than it was here. But that's a part of it.”

It’s unlikely now that Nicolai, even though he produced an eye-catching effort here, will be able to do anything in Switzerland to join his brother on the team at Bethpage Black and the same goes for Marco Penge, who had back-to-back wins in his sights heading into the last day but ended up joint-sixth alongside Fitzpatrick. It also looks game over for Matt Wallace, who started the week sitting ahead of Fitzpatrick in the points table and had given a great account of himself as well until a closing 77 dropped him out of the top 30.

In his first match in the Ryder Cup, Noren teamed up with Sergio Garcia in the first-day foursomes at Le Golf National and dished out a 5&4 hammering to Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau as Europe recorded a 4-0 whitewash in the second session and went on to record a convincing 17.5-10-5 victory. “I think I started crying,” he recalled. “It was more just a relief to get a point on the board. I've never done that before.”