A barnstorming 10-under-par 62 propelled Swede Alexander Noren to a course record as he romped to a come-from-behind victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on Sunday.
There was disappointment for Shane Lowry, however, as the Irishman fired himself to the top of the leaderboard with five front-nine birdies before his challenge tailed off with a pair of double bogeys on the way home.
Lowry was just two shots behind when he drove his tee shot out of bounds on the 15th and the frustrated Offaly native repeated the trick when an aggressive approach shot to the par-five 17th led to another pair of dropped shots.
Where it all crashed down on Shane Lowry's. Ball inches on other side of fence on 15th hole. OB. pic.twitter.com/lGwWAR1DJU
— Philip Reid (@philreidgolf) May 28, 2017
The Offaly native did finish his round with an eagle three, though, to lift him back into a share of sixth place at seven under.
"I'm bitterly disappointed at the minute," Lowry said. "When I got to the 12th I had a look at the scoreboard and saw Alex had got to 11 under so I knew what I needed to do.
"We got a bit rain which didn't help and I just hit a bad tee shot on 15 and then had a bit of a mental brainfart on 17.
"It was nice to eagle the last - if I'd walked away finishing 10th or 11th I'd have been very disappointed. So it's been a decent week, a few world ranking points and Race to Dubai points.
"It's the best I've played in a while, I've just got to build on this."
Noren, who started the final round of the European Tour's flagship event seven shots off the pace, galloped through the field with four birdies on the front nine.
Noren also blitzed his way to a birdie hat-trick from the 12th. He picked up another stroke at the 16th and then delivered a majestic five-iron approach to four feet on the last before sparking huge roars from the crowd by sinking his putt for an eagle three.
"That was probably my best ever," the 34-year-old said of a round that secured the biggest victory of his career. "It's a tough course mentally coming down the stretch.
"It's not super narrow but it's just if you hit it a little bit wayward it can cost you and I putted probably the best I've ever putted," added Noren, who will jump into the world's top 10 after finishing with an 11-under total of 277.
Scores tumbled on Sunday as the strong winds of Friday and Saturday gave way to calm conditions and plenty of rounds in the mid-60s on a course that had a multi-million-dollar revamp following last year's tournament.
The day began in bright sunshine before the weather suddenly turned midway through the afternoon, forcing the later starters to contend with driving rain.
Noren, who had four victories in a spectacular season last year, claimed his ninth tour win and a cheque for just over a million euro.
"This is probably the happiest moment ever," he said. "I wasn't thinking much of the deficit, I was just trying to play a good round of golf.
"I felt I had a lot of adrenaline the whole round. It's a nice feeling to have."
Noren said he was given extra motivation after ending his third round with a double-bogey seven.
"I finished the last hole yesterday very bad and I was pretty angry," he explained.
"I took a long rest and tried to just have a good day. I came out holing birdie putts on one and two... and I was close on three too."
Italy's Francesco Molianri birdied his last two holes to complete a round of 68 and claim second at nine under, one shot better than Open champion Henrik Stenson, Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts and Japan's Hideto Tanihara.
It was a decent weekend for Paul Dunne, the Greystones man shooting a final-round 69 to tie for 30th.
