Alex Noren edges past Adrien Saddier in a play-off to win BMW PGA Championship

Sweden’s Alex Noren defeated France’s Adrien Saddier in a play-off amid challenging weather conditions to win the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.

The overnight leaders finished three shots clear of the field on 19 under par, but could not be separated after 72 holes.

It was Noren, a vice-captain for the Ryder Cup in New York later this month, who produced a fine shot out of the rough to set up short birdie putt to take the play-off at the first extra hole and claim his 12th win on the DP World Tour.

Following on from his victory at last month’s Betfred British Masters, only Rory McIlroy, who has 20 titles, has won more times on the DP World Tour since 2009 than Noren.

Saddier registered another agonising miss after blowing 36-hole and 54-hole leads at the European Masters and the Irish Open, respectively, over the last few weeks.

England’s Aaron Rai had an exceptional bogey-free round of 66, which was matched by former Masters champion Patrick Reed as the pair tied for third at 16 under.

“I love it,” said Noren, after winning this event for the second time in his career.

“This tournament is unbelievable. I told all the guys in the States to come over here. I think it’s one of the best tournaments in the whole world. It just gets better every year. I’m so grateful we have these kind of tournaments.

“Amazing. It was such a tough, emotional back nine. He played very well, Adrien, and I thought the leaderboard was kind of stacked the whole way down to 13, 14. It just kept going.

“I knew the conditions were going to be tough the last seven holes. It’s a weird one because you can’t just wait for the rain to come. Hard to focus on the game, as well, because you know it’s tough and you don’t know how bad it’s going to be.”