Sweden's Alex Noren proves best of British at The Grove

Alex Noren with, his girlfriend Jennifer Kovacs and their daughter Iris pose with the trophy following his victoryin the British Masters. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Noren carded a final round of 69 at The Grove to finish 18 under par and two shots ahead of Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, with Lee Westwood a stroke further back in third.

Ranked 110th in the world after missing the cut in the Irish Open in May, Noren will be 18th in today’s updated standings after adding yesterday’s triumph – and the first prize of £500,000 – to victories in the Scottish Open and European Masters.

“It’s very unreal,” said the 34-year-old, who only played two events in 2014 due to career-threatening wrist injuries. “I never thought about this going into this season.

“I just worked quite hard and sometimes you get lucky like this. You have to hit the right shots at the right times and I’m very happy.

“I believe in myself, but the big thing is you don’t have to play a perfect game. Just a few parts of your game need to be strong to get a win and I try to stay humble. I know golf is a tough game.”

Noren, whose win made certain of a Masters debut at Augusta next April, took a three-shot lead into the final round and birdied the first two holes, only for playing partner Richard Bland to do likewise.

Bland’s bogey on the seventh left Noren four clear, but the Monaco-based Swede then bogeyed the eighth as Bland holed from 50 feet across the green for an unlikely birdie.

Noren’s lead was down to a single shot when he bogeyed the 11th and Wiesberger briefly joined Noren in top spot with a birdie on the par-five 15th, only for Noren to do likewise in the group behind.

With Wiesberger unable to birdie the par-five 18th Noren only needed a par to win, but a superb pitch to two feet set up a closing birdie.

“Unfortunately this was not quite my week on the greens, but to finish well in a strong field like this helps going into the final couple of events this year,” Wiesberger said.”

Westwood’s closing 67 secured his best result since finishing runner-up to Danny Willett in the Masters. Bland dropped shots on the 16th and 17th and had to settle  for a five-way tie for fourth alongside Graeme McDowell, Alexander Levy, Peter Hanson and Tommy Fleetwood.