Golf

Alex Noren hails the best round of his life at Nedbank Golf Challenge

Sweden's Alex Noren won the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Sunday 
Sweden's Alex Noren won the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Sunday  Sweden's Alex Noren won the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Sunday 

SWEDEN'S Alex Noren hailed the best round of his life after claiming an impressive fourth European Tour title in his past 11 events in the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Noren began the day five shots behind South Korea's Wang Jeunghun, but carded a stunning closing 63 in South Africa to finish 14 under par, six shots clear of Wang. Ranked 108th in the world after missing the cut in June's US Open, Noren will be inside the top 10 for the first time when the standings are updated on Monday after adding victory at Sun City to his wins in the Scottish Open, European Masters and British Masters.

And the first prize of more than €1million took the 34-year-old to third in the Race to Dubai ahead of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, albeit still 633,436 points behind fellow Swede Henrik Stenson.

"I've tried to get in this event my whole career and finally did and to win it feels amazing," said Noren, who led by two shots at halfway but struggled to a 75 in round three.

"I wasn't very happy with my round yesterday and I went to my hotel room because we couldn't practice on the range because of the big storm. We were in there for an hour just trying to figure out what I needed to do and I found something. You get a bit more relaxed as a player and you might be able to hole a putt and it was one of those rounds. This was the round of my life."

Noren birdied the first three holes at the Gary Player Country Club and picked up further shots on the fifth, seventh and eighth to reach the turn in 30, and when he holed from 25 feet for an eagle on the 10th and chipped in for a birdie on the next, the first 59 in European Tour history was a distinct possibility.

A bogey on the 14th put paid to that and Wang's birdie on the same hole cut his deficit to two shots, only for the Korean to bogey the next two holes as Noren birdied the 16th. Wang, who was just 20 when he became the youngest player in European Tour history to win consecutive events earlier this season, also bogeyed the 18th but held on to second place, a shot ahead of Andy Sullivan, Branden Grace, Ricardo Gouveia, Alejandro Canizares and Victor Dubuisson.

Stenson was a shot further back in eighth to slightly increase his lead in the Race to Dubai over Masters champion Danny Willett, who finished tied 11th after a closing 69: "Alex playing as well as he does just motivates me even more to bring my game next week and try and be up there," said Open champion Stenson, who leads Willett by 299,675 points.

Rory McIlroy, who did not play in the first two events of the Final Series, can still end the season as European number one for the third year in succession, but has to win in Dubai and hope Stenson finishes 55th or worse in the 60-man field.