September 04, 2016: Alex Noren of Sweden holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the first play-off hole to defeat a battling Scott Hend of Australia and win the Omega European Masters for the second time in his career. Indians Rashid Khan and Arjun Atwal enjoyed a promising week before finishing in T41 and T65 respectively.
Rashid pocketed € 15,390 for his efforts in Crans while Arjun took home € 6,210. The Delhi golfer scored two over 72 in the final round, while the Florida resident made 71 in the final round.
Rashid (73-65-67-72) showed immense promise in the middle rounds before sliding down a bit on Sunday. Overall though it must have been a satisfying week after a period of drought. Arjun was very consistent, scoring 71-69-69-71 in his four rounds.
“I played well but putted badly. I started well but three putted on the ninth hole. I couldn’t find my game after that,” admitted Rashid, without making any effort to hide his disappointment.
“I’m disappointed with the result. It started from the ninth hole. I had a 25-feet eagle putt but ended up three putting. I didn’t hole any putts after that. I bogeyed hole 12 and finished with three bogeys. Not a good finish.
“There are a lot of positive things to take out of this week. I made the cut after a long time and I know what I need to improve on,” added Rashid. “I need to take a little bit more time before I hit a shot. I do it too quickly now and I’m missing on the wrong side. I had no chance to make up-and-downs today.”
Noren, who won the Swiss showpiece in 2009, returned with a five-under-par 65 to end his campaign tied on 17-under-par 263 alongside Hend (66) as they returned to the 18th hole for extra time at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.
Victory did not come easy for the Swede who had to hold off the strong challenge from overnight leader Hend, who played solid golf except for two poor tee shots on the 18th hole where he saved par.
The amiable Andrew Johnston of England carded a 65 to finish on 266, three shots from joining the play-off while Lee Westwood finished in fourth position following a 63 at the €2.7 million (approximately US$3 million) event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.
Li Hao-tong of China fired a 69 to take a share of 18th place and finish as the highest placed Asian at the Omega European Masters.
The 2016 season could not get any better for Noren, who welcomed a baby girl in February and was victorious at the Scottish Open in July. With his win, the Swede is now the only player after the late Seve Ballesteros of Spain and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark to win two Omega European Masters title.
“It sounds unbelievable. I’m coming off a three-week vacation and trying to get the game in shape and it got into shape quite quickly so it is fantastic. There were tough guys hunting me today but I’m happy I won,” said Noren, now a six-time winner in Europe.
The 34-year-old Noren offset Hend’s overnight one-shot lead with an opening birdie and enjoyed a two-shot advantage when he holed four straight birdies before the turn.
His lead was reduced to one as a fast-charging Hend birdied 15 and it was all squared when Noren three-putted 17 for his second bogey of the day.
“It was howling off the mat (18th hole) and you need to hit a big hook. I got lucky pulling that off (twice) but the other guys didn’t. I’ve never won coming from behind or won in a play-off on the European Tour so that makes it more amazing,” said Noren.
Hend, a nine-time Asian Tour winner, was disappointed to settle for second place after hitting two poor tee shots on the 18th hole into the trees.
“He (Alex) played fantastic golf today but I didn’t play quite well enough. That’s golf. You can’t complain when you get into position to win but somebody makes a great birdie on the play-off hole to win,” said Hend, a nine-time Asian Tour winner.
“I think Alex played the 18th hole way better than I did and made an awesome birdie for a deserving win. It wasn’t a daunting tee shot on the last. It is just like any other tee shot. You just need to stand there and hit it. I was unable to hit the shot I wanted yesterday and today, twice,” he lamented.
