Alex Noren returns to the scene of one of his most memorable wins as he prepares for his defence of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
READ: Noren blasts his way to NGC win
‘It’s such a good feeling of the last time I was here,’ who added his fourth win of the year at the event in 2016.
‘You know, you have all the memories from there. It brings you back. It seems not very long ago it happened.’
Noren stormed past the leaders with a final round 63 to win and admits that it took a long time for it all to settle.
‘I couldn’t believe that I actually won it because I was a lot of shots back before the last round, and you know, so everything went very quick and then I was off to the next tournament. Then you come back here and it’s almost like you let it sink in a bit more, yeah.
The win was made even more remarkable as he showed his bounce-back-ability after a poor third round.
‘Yeah, I mean, the mind-set was — I kind of lost my lead on the third day. Didn’t play very good on the third day. You know, just trying to, you know, finish off with a decent round, get a good finish.
‘I wasn’t really thinking about winning at all. And just to get a good finish going into Dubai and have a good finish there, kind of build some momentum for Dubai, and then all of a sudden, yeah, with the eagle on 10, I holed like a big lob shot on 11 and then all of a sudden, I was like, I can do this.’
Noren expects scoring to be tough – but not impossible – with low scores on offer for a player that works his way around the Gary Player Country Club intelligently.
‘Last year, I would say the wind was quite strong at times, and the greens are quite small. Like they hide the pins out on the edges. I think when you try to be too aggressive, it can bite you in the back.
‘Yeah, I think overall, you have to play pretty good to shoot low, and then it is – you can make birdies out there but I think you have to know your way around.’
