Alex Norén

Last updated • 9 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Alex Norén
Alex Noren at the 2012 Omega European Masters.png
Norén at the 2012 Omega European Masters
Personal information
Full nameAlexander Norén
Born (1982-07-12) 12 July 1982 (age 42)
Stockholm, Sweden
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Sporting nationalityFlag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
ResidenceStockholm, Sweden
Jupiter, Florida, U.S.
Spouse
Jennifer Kovacs
​
(m. 2017)​
Children2
Career
College Oklahoma State University
Turned professional2005
Current tour(s) PGA Tour
European Tour
Former tour(s) Challenge Tour
Professional wins11
Highest ranking 8 (28 May 2017) [1]
(as of 24 November 2024)
Number of wins by tour
European Tour10
Asian Tour2
Challenge Tour1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T62: 2019
PGA Championship T12: 2024
U.S. Open T17: 2020
The Open Championship T6: 2017

Alexander Norén (born 12 July 1982) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has won ten tournaments on the European Tour, including the BMW PGA Championship, the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the British Masters, HNA Open de France and the Nedbank Golf Challenge. He was a member of the winning 2018 European Ryder Cup team.

Contents

Early life

Norén was born in Stockholm, first tried golf at 4 years of age and started playing at Haninge Golf Club. Practicing other sports too, he finally chose to give his priority to golf. [2]

As a 14 year old, he won the unofficial Swedish Youth Championship, Föreningsbanken Cup, at his age level, scoring 146 over 36 holes at Rya Golf Club. [3]

15 years of age, he attended the Swedish upper secondary sports school, to combine studying with golf training. He was also employed as junior editor at Svensk Golf, the official magazine of the Swedish Golf Federation.

Amateur career

Norén represented Sweden as an amateur on all levels. He was part of the Swedish team winning the 2002 European Youths' Team Championship at Gdansk G&CC, Poland. [4] [5] He also represented Sweden at the 2004 Eisenhower Trophy in Río Grande, Puerto Rico, were the Swedish team finished as bronze-medalists and Norén tied 3rd individually.

He attended Oklahoma State University in the United States.

Professional career

Norén turned professional at the end of 2005 and gained a place on Europe's second tier Challenge Tour by reaching the final stage of the European Tour qualifying school. In his rookie season he claimed his maiden professional victory at the Rolex Trophy, and ended the year in 3rd place on the Challenge Tour Rankings to graduate to the elite European Tour for 2007.

Norén had a solid rookie season on the European Tour in 2007 and improved on that the following year to finish in 31st place on the Order of Merit. He made the cut at the 2008 Open Championship and was in the top 10 going into day 3, before eventually finishing in a tie for 19th place.

Norén won his first title on the European Tour in September 2009 at the Omega European Masters, where he finished 20 under par to win by two strokes over Bradley Dredge. [6] Norén finished the season ranked 25th on the Race To Dubai.

2011–2014

In June 2011, Norén won his second European Tour title at the Saab Wales Open played at The Celtic Manor Resort. He won by two strokes from Grégory Bourdy and Anders Hansen finishing at 9 under par. [7] This victory secured him of a place in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in August. The following month, Norén won his third European Tour title at the Nordea Masters at Bro Hof Slott Golf Club in his home country of Sweden. He won from wire-to-wire, the first time in his career he had achieved this feat, and opened up an eleven-stroke margin after the third round. Despite difficult conditions in the wind on the final day, Norén finished seven strokes ahead of Richard Finch. [8] He finished the season ranked 14th on the Race to Dubai.

After two positive seasons in 2012 and 2013, where he registered third places at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Norén missed most of 2014 with tendonitis in both wrists. [9]

2015–2016

Norén came back to competitions in January 2015; in June he won his fourth European Tour title by capturing the Nordea Masters in Sweden for the second time in his career. He won by four strokes from Søren Kjeldsen, having held a two-stroke lead after 54 holes. [10]

In the second half of 2016 Norén would hit outstanding form, winning four in eleven starts on the European Tour. In July he won the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Castle Stuart, the event before The Open Championship, for his fifth European Tour victory. He won by a single stroke from the Englishman Tyrrell Hatton. This win continued his trend of holding the 54-hole lead in every event that he had won on tour. It also represented the first time that Norén had won in back-to-back seasons.

After finishing runner-up at the Paul Lawrie Matchplay in August, he won the Omega European Masters in September, beating Scott Hend at the first playoff hole. [11] A month later, he captured his third win of the season at the British Masters at The Grove. The win lifted him to the 18th place on the Official World Golf Ranking.

In November, Norén won his fourth title of 2016 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, capturing $1,166,660, the largest in his career so far. He began the final day six shots behind Wang Jeung-hun only to finish six strokes ahead after a record round of 63 (−9). With the win, he moved to third in the Race to Dubai ranking, and to ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking, becoming only the fourth Swede to enter the top ten of the OWGR after Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson and Jesper Parnevik. [12]

In March 2017, Norén was awarded 2016 Best Athlete in Stockholm by the Stockholm Sports Federation and the Stockholm Sport Journalists Club. [13]

2017–2018

In May 2017, Norén won the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour.

Norén qualified for the PGA Tour for the 2017–18 season through non-member FedEx Cup points. In January 2018, Norén finished runner-up at the Farmers Insurance Open after entering the final round with a one stroke lead. Norén lost to Jason Day on the sixth extra hole of a sudden-death playoff. The players had to come back for a Monday finish, after the first five holes could not separate them. Norén then lost to birdie on the sixth extra hole, after his second shot found the water. [14]

In March 2018, Norén had another notable week, when he finished 3rd place in the WGC-Match Play. He progressed all the way through to the semi-finals, where he faced Kevin Kisner. It was a tight match all the way through, with no player more than 1 up. Norén had a putt to win the match on the 18th hole, but it slid by. He would eventually lose in 19 holes, after a misread putt from off the green cost him a bogey. He then beat Justin Thomas, 5 & 3, in the consolation match.

In July 2018, Norén won the HNA Open de France on the European Tour. This event was held at Le Golf National outside of Paris, France.

In September 2018, Norén qualified for the European team participating in the 2018 Ryder Cup. Europe defeated the U.S. team 17 1/2 to 10 1/2. Coincidentally, the event was also held at Le Golf National. Noren went 2–1–0 and won his singles match against Bryson DeChambeau, playing in the last game on Sunday. Norén secured his win when he holed a long birdie putt on the 18th hole, the very last shot of the whole event, stating the final result and causing the European team to celebrate on the 18th green. [15]

2019–2022

Norén could not maintain his good form through 2019 and fell in the Official World Golf Ranking from 19th at the end of 2018 to 75th a year later. His best 2019 finish on the European Tour as well as on the PGA Tour was tied 11th at the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland.

On 26 July 2020, Norén had his best PGA Tour finish in over two years, when he tied 3rd at the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, with a 268, (−16) score, three shots behind winner Michael Thompson.

At the 120th U.S. Open on 17−20 September 2020 at Winged Foot Golf Club, New York, Norén made the cut at 6 over par with no margin. In the third round, under tough conditions, he shot a 3-under 67, the second lowest round of the day, advancing to 11th place. He finished the tournament a career best tied 17th at 8 over par, 14 strokes behind winner Bryson DeChambeau, but only six strokes from third place.

At the 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, Detroit, Michigan, on July 4, Norén shot an 8-under-par score of 64 in the fourth round, to finish tied fourth, one shot from reaching a playoff for the win. By this achievement, he advanced to 83rd on the Official World Golf Ranking, his best ranking since January 2020.

In July 2022, Norén was the first alternate at the 150th Open Championship, having been onsite until Tuesday, he decided to fly to California to play in the Barracuda Championship. He went on to finish solo-second; finishing one point behind Chez Reavie. [16]

In November 2022, Norén finished tied second at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, advancing to 41st on the Official World Golf Ranking and giving him an opportunity to stay inside the top 50 on the world rankings at the end of the year and to receive an invitation to the 2023 Masters Tournament.

Professional wins (11)

European Tour wins (10)

Legend
Flagship events (1)
Race to Dubai finals series (1)
Rolex Series (2) [a]
Other European Tour (7)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
16 Sep 2009 Omega European Masters 1−20 (65-70-63-66=264)2 strokes Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Bradley Dredge
25 Jun 2011 Saab Wales Open −9 (67-67-71-70=275)2 strokes Flag of France.svg Grégory Bourdy, Flag of Denmark.svg Anders Hansen
324 Jul 2011 Nordea Masters −15 (67-66-63-77=273)7 strokes Flag of England.svg Richard Finch
47 Jun 2015 Nordea Masters (2)−12 (70-68-67-71=276)4 strokes Flag of Denmark.svg Søren Kjeldsen
510 Jul 2016 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open −14 (70-66-68-70=274)1 stroke Flag of England.svg Tyrrell Hatton
64 Sep 2016 Omega European Masters 1 (2)−17 (69-63-66-65=263)Playoff Flag of Australia (converted).svg Scott Hend
716 Oct 2016 British Masters −18 (67-65-65-69=266)2 strokes Flag of Austria.svg Bernd Wiesberger
813 Nov 2016 Nedbank Golf Challenge −14 (69-67-75-63=274)6 strokes Flag of South Korea.svg Wang Jeung-hun
928 May 2017 BMW PGA Championship −11 (68-75-72-62=277)2 strokes Flag of Italy.svg Francesco Molinari
101 Jul 2018 HNA Open de France −7 (73-72-65-67=277)1 stroke Flag of Scotland.svg Russell Knox, Flag of the United States.svg Julian Suri,
Flag of England.svg Chris Wood

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2016 Omega European Masters Flag of Australia (converted).svg Scott Hend Won with birdie on first extra hole

Challenge Tour wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning ScoreMargin of
victory		Runners-up
120 Aug 2006 Rolex Trophy −22 (66-67-62-71=266)3 strokes Flag of Sweden.svg Johan Axgren, Flag of England.svg Gareth Davies

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2006 Kai Fieberg Costa Rica Open Flag of Sweden.svg Johan Axgren Lost to birdie on third extra hole

Playoff record

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2018 Farmers Insurance Open Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jason Day, Flag of the United States.svg Ryan Palmer Day won with birdie on sixth extra hole
Palmer eliminated by birdie on first hole

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament20082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
Masters Tournament CUTCUT
U.S. Open T51CUTCUTCUTCUTT25
The Open Championship T19CUTCUTT9WDT46T6T17
PGA Championship T34T66CUTT49T67CUT
Tournament201920202021202220232024
Masters Tournament T62CUT
PGA Championship T54T22T55CUTCUTT12
U.S. Open CUTT17CUTCUTCUT
The Open Championship T11NTCUTT23T13
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament 00000041
PGA Championship 000002128
U.S. Open 000002113
The Open Championship 000027128
Totals00002113920

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament20172018201920202021202220232024
The Players Championship 10T17CUTCCUTT26CUTT19
  Top 10

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Cancelled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

Tournament200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
Championship 69T20T56T55T14T62
Match Play R64R32QF3T17NT1T18T52
Invitational T53T53T28T31T12
Champions T19T49T54T12T31T18NT1NT1NT1

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = tied
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022. The Champions was discontinued from 2023.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The 2017 BMW PGA Championship was also a Rolex Series tournament.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergio García</span> Spanish professional golfer

Sergio García Fernández is a Spanish professional golfer. He turned professional in 1999 and played on the European Tour and PGA Tour prior to joining LIV Golf in 2022. García has won 36 international tournaments as a professional, most notably the 2008 Players Championship and the 2017 Masters Tournament. García was also the Chairman of Spanish football team CF Borriol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Westwood</span> English golfer (born 1973)

Lee John Westwood is an English professional golfer. Noted for his consistency, he is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania – including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He has also won tournaments in four decades, the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. He was named European Tour Golfer of the Year for the 1998, 2000, 2009 and 2020 seasons. He has won the 2000 European Tour Order of Merit, and the renamed 2009 and 2020 Race to Dubai. He has frequently been mentioned as one of the best golfers without a major championship victory, with several near misses including three runner-up finishes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Scott (golfer)</span> Australian golfer

Adam Derek Scott is an Australian professional golfer. In 2000, Scott turned professional and quickly earned European Tour membership. He won four tour events early in his career. In 2004, Scott won The Players Championship, the flagship event on the PGA Tour, and has focused on the United States since then. In the early 2010s, Scott began his greatest stretch of his career. He won the 2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, finished runner-up 2012 Open Championship, and won the 2013 Masters Tournament. In 2014, Scott won The Colonial earning the world #1 ranking for first time. Since then Scott's success has endured, winning multiple international tournaments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pádraig Harrington</span> Irish professional golfer (born 1971)

Pádraig Peter Harrington is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship, also in 2008. He spent over 300 weeks in the top-10 of the world rankings, and reached a career-high ranking of the third spot in July 2008. Harrington was a member of six consecutive Ryder Cup teams between 1999 and 2010. In 2024, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Rose</span> South African-born English professional golfer (born 1980)

Justin Peter Rose, is an English professional golfer. Rose first achieved significant media attention when he finished fourth place at the 1998 Open Championship as an amateur. He turned pro the next day but struggled during his first few years as a professional, making few cuts. In the early 2000s, however, he had success, winning his first European Tour title in 2002 and ultimately leading the tour's Order of Merit in 2007. In the ensuing years, Rose focused primarily on the United States, winning a number of notable tournaments, culminating with a victory at the 2013 U.S. Open. Rose has continued with success since then, earning a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing runner-up at the 2017 Masters, and reaching number one in the world for the first time in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Bjørn</span> Danish professional golfer

Thomas Bjørn is a Danish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He is the most successful Danish golfer to have played the game having won fifteen tournaments worldwide on the European Tour. In 1997 he also became the first Dane to qualify for a European Ryder Cup team. He captained the winning European side at the 2018 Ryder Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graeme McDowell</span> Northern Irish professional golfer

Graeme McDowellMBE is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland. He has a total of eleven tournament victories on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. In 2022, he joined LIV Golf. McDowell has also represented Ireland at the World Cup and he has been a member of the European Ryder Cup team on four occasions. He has appeared in the top-10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, with a highest ranking position of 4th.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henrik Stenson</span> Swedish professional golfer

Henrik Olof Stenson is a Swedish professional golfer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Molinari</span> Italian professional golfer

Francesco Molinari is an Italian professional golfer. He won the 2018 Open Championship, his first and only major victory, and the first major won by an Italian professional golfer. The Open Championship win capped a successful season in which he won the 2018 BMW PGA Championship, his fifth win on the European Tour, and the Quicken Loans National, his first PGA Tour win. At the end of the season, Molinari won 5 out of 5 points as Europe won the 2018 Ryder Cup.

Fredrik Ulf Yngve Jacobson is a Swedish professional golfer who formerly played on the PGA Tour and the European Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Oosthuizen</span> South African professional golfer

Lodewicus Theodorus "Louis" Oosthuizen is a South African professional golfer who won the 2010 Open Championship. He has finished runner-up in all four major championships: the 2012 Masters Tournament, the 2015 and 2021 U.S. Open, the 2015 Open Championship, and the PGA Championship in 2017 and 2021. His highest placing on the Official World Golf Ranking is fourth, which he reached in January 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Kaymer</span> German professional golfer

Martin Kaymer is a German professional golfer who currently plays on the LIV Golf League. A winner of two major championships, he was also the No. 1 ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking for eight weeks in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Donaldson</span> Welsh professional golfer

James Ross Donaldson is a Welsh professional golfer who plays on the European Tour.

Jonas Fredrik Blixt Berglund is a Swedish professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour. He is a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, with his most recent win coming at the 2017 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

David Thomas Lingmerth is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Rahm</span> Spanish professional golfer (born 1994)

Jon Rahm Rodríguez is a Spanish professional golfer from the Basque Country. He was number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a then record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first achieving that rank after winning the Memorial Tournament in July 2020. In June 2021, Rahm became the first Spanish golfer to win the U.S. Open. In 2023, he won the Masters Tournament, his second major championship. On 7 December 2023, Rahm announced that he was joining LIV Golf. In 2024, he was ranked the world's second highest-paid athlete by Forbes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Björk</span> Swedish professional golfer

Alexander Karl Mikael Björk is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He won the 2018 Volvo China Open, and has recorded runner-up finishes at the UBS Hong Kong Open, British Masters, DP World Tour Championship, Ras Al Khaimah Championship and Omega European Masters. In 2023, he finished 5th in Race to Dubai Eligibility Ranking to receive a PGA Tour card.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludvig Åberg</span> Swedish golfer (born 1999)

Ludvig Noa Åberg is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and European Tour.

Vincent Oliver Norrman is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the 2023 Barbasol Championship, as well as the 2023 Horizon Irish Open. As an amateur, he was part of the Swedish team winning the 2019 European Amateur Team Championship.

Meja Örtengren is a Swedish amateur golfer. In 2022, 17 years old, she was part of the Swedish team winning the Espirito Santo Trophy and was tied individual leader. During 2022, she also captured her first win in a professional tournament, the Swedish PGA Championship.

References

  1. ↑ "Week 21 2017 Ending 28 May 2017" (pdf). OWGR . Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  2. ↑ "Alex Noren - My story". Alex Noren website. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "Rafflande avslutning" [Exiting finish]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 9. September 1996. pp. 109–111.
  4. 1 2 3 European Youths Team Championship European Golf Association
  5. 1 2 3 4 Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf – Den stora sporten [Golf – The Great Sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. pp. 189, 197, 201. ISBN   91-86818007.
  6. ↑ "Noren edges Dredge to Masters win". BBC Sport. 6 September 2009. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  7. ↑ Shuttleworth, Peter (5 June 2011). "Noren wins second European Tour title at the Welsh Open". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  8. ↑ "Noren triumphs in home country for second win of 2011". Sky Sports. 24 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  9. ↑ "Injury keeps Noren away from St Andrews". European Tour. 12 July 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  10. ↑ "Noren the King of Castle Stuart". PGA European Tour. 10 July 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "Alex Noren buries 30-footer to win Omega European Masters in playoff". Golfweek. 4 September 2016.
  12. ↑ "With This Win – Alex Noren". PGA European Tour. 13 November 2016.
  13. ↑ Hellsten, CM (8 March 2017). "Alex Norén har utsetts till Stockholms främste idrottare" (in Swedish). Svensk Golf.
  14. ↑ "Jason Day beats Alex Noren on sixth playoff hole to win Farmers Insurance Open". ESPN. Associated Press. 29 January 2018.
  15. ↑ "Europe wins back Ryder Cup, beating US 17 1/2-10 1/2". The Hamilton Spectator. The Canadian Press. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  16. ↑ Smith, Ben (18 July 2022). "Alex Noren was ticked at himself over Open decision...then this happened". Golfmagic. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.