Sweden’s Alex Noren ended his playoff with Australia’s Scott Hend in a hurry on Sunday, firing a birdie to win the Omega European Masters by a stroke.
Hend entered Sunday leading the tournament by a stroke, but Noren’s blistering 65 on Sunday gave him the victory. It was his second time winning the event. His first win came in 2009 which was also his first win on the European Tour. Incredibly the 65 was only his second-best round of the tournament: Noren fired a 63 on Friday. His “worst” round of the weekend was his opening 69.
Noren made his move early on Sunday, birdying No. 1, then hitting four straight to end the front nine. He was only even par on the back nine, and let Hend back into the lead when he bogeyed No. 17. Hend was 2-under on the front nine, then gave a stroke back on No. 11. He birdied 12, 14, and 15, and moved into a share of the lead ont he bogey.
The back nine was Hend’s struggle throughout the tournament. He never had a bogey on the front nine throughout the tournament, shooting 11-under on the front nines. He was 6-under on the back nine, but that included six bogeys spread across the four rounds.
Noren was quite the same, although he only had four bogeys over four rounds. He also never bogeyed on the front nine over the course of the tournament, shooting 11-under, although all of that was in the final three rounds.
The UK’s Andrew Johnston finished third at 14-under. He had two bookend rounds of 65 to match his two middle round 68s. After being 1-over through eight holes on Sunday, Johnston made a push with birdied on 9 and 10, an eagle on 14 and two more birdies down the stretch, but he was too far off the pace to catch the leaders.
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