Noren wins Nedbank Challenge by six strokes - his fourth European Tour victory of season

 EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Alex Noren posted a closing 63 to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player by six shots and claim his fourth European Tour victory of the season.
The Swede carded an eagle, eight birdies and a solitary bogey to finish the weekend at Sun City, South Africa on 14 under par and will move up to third in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.
South Korean Jeunghun Wang, who held a three-shot lead on Saturday night, finished six shots behind Noren in second, one stroke clear of Ricardo Gouveia, Alejandro Cañizares, Victor Dubuisson, home favourite Branden Grace and Andy Sullivan.
Noren's countryman Henrik Stenson, who leads the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, fired a birdie at the last to finish eighth on six under.
Danny Willett produced a 69 on Sunday to finish on three under and keep in touch with Stenson ahead of next week's season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
Englishman Willett, Noren and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy will do battle with Stenson at Jumeirah Golf Estates in a bid to win the Race to Dubai.
Noren, who led at the halfway stage of the competition, began the day six shots off the lead but soon closed the gap courtesy of birdies at the first three holes and another gain at the fifth.


Noren, pictured above,  holed his 30-foot birdie putt at the seventh before repeating the trick from a similar distance at the next to move to 11 under.
When Wang carded a disappointing double bogey at the eighth, Noren briefly found himself with a one-shot lead, but the South Korean fired a birdie at the ninth to join him at the summit.
Noren regained the outright lead at the tenth, however, effortlessly knocking in his 25-foot eagle putt before chipping in for a birdie at the 11th to get to 14 under.
The 34 year old dropped his first shot of the day at the 14th but rolled in from eight feet at the 16th to return to 14 under.
And with Wang carding bogeys at the 15th, 16th and 18th, Noren secured his eighth European Tour title by six shots.
Gouveia and Dubuisson will join Noren in Dubai next week, with their joint third-place finishes taking them up to 53rd and 47th respectively in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.
South African Jaco van Zyl will also be in Dubai after he finished tenth on four under to move to 56th place.
Looking ahead to next week, Stenson said: "Alex playing as well as he does just motivates me even more to bring my game next week and then try and be up there."

 Gouveia's Dubai Delight

Ricardo Gouveia was delighted after a strong finish at the Nedbank Golf Challenge saw him book his place in next week's season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Gouveia, who topped the Challenge Tour Rankings last season, posted a five-under-par 67 today to finish in a tie for third place on seven under.
The 25 year old secured his spot in this week's field with a strong performance at the Turkish Airlines Open last weekend and Gouveia is thrilled to have repeated the trick this week.
He said: "It's massive for me to make it to Dubai.
"Going into the last regular-season event in Portugal, I had to play well to get into Turkey and then I had to play well in Turkey to get in this week, and again, I had to play well this week to get in Dubai.
"So I'm just really happy."

Gouveia began his final round nine shots behind overnight leader Jeunghun Wang after producing rounds of 74, 68 and 72 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday respectively.
And he started brightly on day four, firing back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes to get to four under.
After dropping his first shot of the day at the fifth, Gouveia made a gain at the ninth to reach the turn in 34.
Gouveia picked up further shots at the tenth and 11th before carding a second bogey at the 13th.
And birdies at the 15th and 17th saw him move to seven under.
"It was a great week," added Gouveia. "I didn't start very well but I knew my game was good. I just stayed patient.
"I'm very satisfied to shoot a five-under round on the last day."

FINAL TOTALS AND PRIZE MONEY
                                                                                               PRIZEMONEY IN EUROS
      PAR 288 (4x72)
    1   NOREN, Alex                         SWE    69 67 75 63    274  1,048,522

	2	WANG Jeunghun	SKOR		68	73	64	75			280	699,012
	3	CAÑIZARES Alejandro	ESP		71	68	74	68			281	276,812
	3	DUBUISSON Victor	FRA		69	75	69	68			281	276,812
	3	GOUVEIA Ricardo	POR		74	68	72	67			281	276,812
	3	GRACE Branden	RSA		71	69	71	70			281	276,812
	3	SULLIVAN Andy	ENG		72	69	68	72			281	276,812
	8	STENSON Henrik	SWE		69	74	69	70			282	157,279
	9	OOSTHUIZEN Louis	RSA		72	66	70	75			283	138,406
	10	VAN ZYL Jaco	RSA		69	69	74	72			284	125,823
	11	JACQUELIN Raphaël	FRA		74	72	72	67			285	109,768
	11	WILLETT Danny	ENG		75	74	67	69			285	109,768
	13	LINGMERTH David	SWE		71	72	73	70			286	99,940
	14	FLEETWOOD Tommy	ENG		75	72	71	69			287	91,042
	14	LUITEN Joost	NED		74	70	74	69			287	91,042
	16	DREDGE Bradley	WAL		73	69	75	71			288	81,785
	16	JAIDEE Thongchai	THA		76	71	70	71			288	81,785
	16	KJELDSEN Søren	DEN		74	71	71	72			288	81,785
	16	ZANOTTI Fabrizio	PAR		70	68	78	72			288	81,785
	20	BLAND Richard	ENG		76	71	71	71			289	71,216
	20	BOURDY Grégory	FRA		74	76	71	68			289	71,216
	20	FITZPATRICK Matthew	ENG		76	67	72	74			289	71,216
	20	LI Haotong	CHN		72	72	73	72			289	71,216
	20	STERNE Richard	RSA		74	70	71	74			289	71,216
	25	COETZEE George	RSA		69	69	82	70			290	59,766
	25	ELVIRA Nacho	ESP		75	71	71	73			290	59,766
	25	FISHER Ross	ENG		68	72	73	77			290	59,766
	25	HATTON Tyrrell	ENG		75	71	72	72			290	59,766
	25	PARATORE Renato	ITA		71	73	73	73			290	59,766
	25	RAMSAY Richie	SCO		69	76	73	72			290	59,766
	25	WOOD Chris	ENG		69	69	75	77			290	59,766
	32	AIKEN Thomas	RSA		70	74	77	70			291	51,273
	32	BJERREGAARD Lucas	DEN		72	75	73	71			291	51,273
	34	HEBERT Benjamin	FRA		74	73	75	70			292	47,184
	34	JOHNSTON Andrew	ENG		75	73	73	71			292	47,184
	34	PIETERS Thomas	BEL		76	73	70	73			292	47,184
	37	COLSAERTS Nicolas	BEL		74	72	76	71			293	44,038
	37	KARLBERG Rikard	SWE		71	73	75	74			293	44,038
	39	APHIBARNRAT Kiradech	THA		74	72	74	74			294	39,634
	39	LARRAZÁBAL Pablo	ESP		76	73	78	67			294	39,634
	39	SCHWARTZEL Charl	RSA		74	76	68	76			294	39,634
	39	SIEM Marcel	GER		74	73	73	74			294	39,634
	39	SOUTHGATE Matthew	ENG		72	68	82	72			294	39,634
	44	HEND Scott	AUS		71	71	73	80			295	33,343
	44	HORSEY David	ENG		71	73	81	70			295	33,343
	44	JENSEN Lasse	DEN		73	69	80	73			295	33,343
	44	KAYMER Martin	GER		81	75	69	70			295	33,343
	44	LAGERGREN Joakim	SWE		74	72	78	71			295	33,343
	49	CARLSSON Johan	SWE		73	77	75	71			296	27,681
	49	DRYSDALE David	SCO		76	75	76	69			296	27,681
	49	LIPSKY David	USA		72	75	72	77			296	27,681
	49	PAISLEY Chris	ENG		77	73	74	72			296	27,681
	53	FRASER Marcus	AUS		75	73	75	74			297	23,906
	53	ILONEN Mikko	FIN		74	75	76	72			297	23,906
	55	CABRERA BELLO Rafa	ESP		76	72	77	73			298	19,880
	55	HARRINGTON Padraig	IRL		76	75	75	72			298	19,880
	55	MANASSERO Matteo	ITA		73	74	76	75			298	19,880
	55	OTAEGUI Adrian	ESP		75	75	75	73			298	19,880
	55	ROCK Robert	ENG		74	73	78	73			298	19,880
	60	GOOSEN Retief	RSA		73	75	76	75			299	16,986
	60	LEE Soomin	KOR		75	72	79	73			299	16,986
	60	WATTEL Romain	FRA		74	78	74	73			299	16,986
	63	OLESEN Thorbjørn	DEN		77	69	81	74			301	15,728
	64	LEVY Alexander	FRA		77	75	78	72			302	14,470
	64	MORRISON James	ENG		77	71	79	75			302	14,470
	64	WARREN Marc	SCO		75	73	75	79			302	14,470
	67	CAMPILLO Jorge	ESP		79	77	80	71			307	12,897
	67	QUESNE Julien	FRA		70	80	83	74			307	12,897
	69	STONE Brandon	RSA		76	76	82	76			310	11,953
	70	SLATTERY Lee	ENG		77	78	81	78			314	11,324