The Scottish summer eh? With everybody peering at tightly packed isobars and low depressions birling and swirling towards Caledonia, perhaps the Met Office should have stuck out a yellow be aware warning about Alex Noren. He’s produced some storming stuff, after all.
In the 78 holes the Swede has played to reach the final of the Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Matchplay Championship at Archerfield Links, the 34-year-old has racked up a profitable haul of 34 birdies and one eagle during his rousing rampage to an 18-hole shoot-out with England’s Anthony Wall.
The standard was set in the morning’s quarter-finals as Noren unleashed the heavy artillery and covered his first six holes in seven-under to leave his compatriot, Johan Carlsson, quaking and quivering like a besieged infantry man in the trenches. Noren would go on to win 4&2 and set up a last four encounter with James Morrison. Three birdies on his first three holes against the Englishman got him off and running again and, despite some menacing advances from his opponent around the turn, Noren eased to a 3&2 victory.
Having won the Scottish Open up at Castle Stuart a month ago, Noren is well on course to complete a double whammy of triumphs in the home of the game. Whether that title tilt gets blown off course, by winds predicted to gust up to 45mph, remains to be seen but you certainly wouldn’t bet against the world No 50 adding another £144,000 to his burgeoning bank balance.
What he won’t be adding, however, are any more tournaments to his schedule over the next few weeks. Noren is still well down the list for automatic qualification for the Ryder Cup and with only two events left before the cut off, in the Czech Republic and Denmark, Noren is not entered for any of them. Even if he won today, and continued to grab the attention of European skipper Darren Clarke, the five-times European Tour champion is determined to stick to his own plans.
“I’m going to have a break for three weeks,” he stated. “I was so far out of the qualifying race coming into the Scottish Open anyway and I’ve worked the whole of my career on trying to just stay in the now and not looking too far ahead. So I’m having one week of holiday and then two weeks of training because I need that to really work on the things that I think are going to be necessary for a tough stretch of tournaments coming up until the end of the season.”
After that initial blitz against Morrison which had him four-up, Noren was penalised when he accidentally moved his ball in the trees on the ninth to lose the hole and then watched his lead halved when Morrison birdied the 10th. The Englishman looked in a good position to get back to within a hole on the 11th when he plonked an approach to six-feet but, in a classic matchplay twist, Noren holed his birdie putt from 20-feet and Morrison missed. The lead was back to three and it would never be surrendered.
While Noren will be aiming for a sixth title of his career, 41-year-old Wall will be trying to capture just his second win and a first since his maiden triumph back in 2000. He certainly earned his final place as he finally edged out compatriot Oliver Finish at the 22nd hole. “Is that what it was?,” gasped a smiling Wall after a nip and tuck tussle which went the full distance and plenty more.
The canny, likeable Londoner has been a hardy perennial of the European scene since 1998. Solid, reliable? He’s what most folk would call a journeyman golfer. And that journey has netted him over £7 million in career earnings. It’s nice work if you can get it. “I don’t think about only winning once,” said Wall after a tight, keenly fought skirmish during which there was never more than one hole between the two players “I have many wins in my career. I have two kids and a beautiful wife. I know that sounds corny but I like it.”
Wall had finished with a flourish in his morning match against Haydn Porteous and chipped in from 25 yards for an eagle on the last to win by two holes.
He needed four extra holes to beat Fisher and eventually sealed his final berth with an eight-foot birdie putt.
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