Noren Hits Flagstick on Back-to-Back Shots

If there’s one thing the European Tour knows how to do, it’s fun. On Tuesday in Dubai, two days prior to the Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, eight of the top players on the circuit participated in the Hero Challenge, a unique closest-to-the-pin contest.

The head-to-head bracketed contest featured first-round match ups between Tommy Fleetwood and Ian Poulter, Alex Noren and Francesco Molinari, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Thomas Pieters and Jon Rahm and Li Haotong. 

A floating green some 105 yards away in the bay off of Nasimi Beach Club was the target with zero, five, 10 or 25 points being awarded depending on how close to the flagstick the shots landed.

The highlight of the event came in the first round match between Noren and Molinari. Under a time crunch and with 10 balls to hit, Noren rattled the flagstick on back-to-back shots to dispatch of the Italian. 

Noren would go on to advance past Poulter in the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Li Haotong in the final. 

The real tournament gets underway on Thursday morning from Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth Course. Tommy Fleetwood leads the Race to Dubai entering the final event, but Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia are lurking in second and third place, respectively.

[@EuropeanTour]

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