Ahlawat finishes 54th as Noren wins title

Sutton Coldfield (England), Aug 25 (PTI) Veer Ahlawat had a poor final round of 2-over 74 as he ended a disappointing tied 54th at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo.

The other Indian entry this week, Shubhankar Sharma had missed the cut.

Ahlawat, who came to the DP World Tour after topping the PGTI Order of Merit, shot rounds of 73-71-71-74 to total 1-over.

He had three birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey in his final round.

Alex Noren ended a seven-year wait for his 11th DP World Tour title as he fought off Nicolai Højgaard and a charging Kazuma Kobori to win the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo by one shot.

Noren, who also won this event in 2016, started the day one shot off the lead but took over at the top early in his final round before getting locked in a battle for the title with Dane Højgaard.

New Zealander Kobori stormed into contention late on with an eagle and four birdies in his final six holes to set the clubhouse target at 15 under par.

But Swede Noren produced a big finish of his own, picking up birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th to take a two-shot lead to the 18th tee.

He suffered a late scare as an errant tee-shot at the last cost him a shot there but he finished the week on 16 under to return to the winner's circle for the first time since the 2018 Open de France.

Kobori and Højgaard finished in a tie for second, with Japan's Keita Nakajima and Andy Sullivan of England rounding out the top five at 13 under and 12 under respectively.

Højgaard's twin brother Rasmus became the sixth and final player to automatically qualify for the European Ryder Cup Team after finishing in a tie for 13th on eight under. PTI CORR KHS KHS