British Masters Power Rankings

With so many fantastic courses to choose from in England, it makes sense that the British Masters opts for rotating host sites. Alex Norén might not be in favor of it, at least not this year.

The Swede will have to defend his British Masters title away from The Grove where he won by two at 18-under in 2016. This fact should roll right off the back of the world No. 12 who’s proven he can win just about anywhere.

Norén’s won six times worldwide since 2015, including in England this May at the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship.

Counting his win, the 35-year-old has six top-10s in 2017 with a T6 in his last start two weeks ago at the Omega European Masters. Before that, Norén had three weeks off so he should be plenty rested for what shapes up to be a grind of a week.

As Norén climbed the world rankings thanks to four wins last year, the notion was that he didn’t show well at majors and other big-time events. He’s dispelled that this year not only at the BMW but with a run to the WGC-Dell Match Play quarterfinals and top-10s at The PLAYERS, the Open de France in the Rolex Series and the Open Championship.

His short game and putting are his strengths, which will come in handy as the field as a whole could struggle to hit a lot of greens this week. Norén also rarely posts high numbers and has a solid 70.03 stroke average, which would be the lowest in a season in his career.

Aside from his win last year, Norén tied for 13th in 2008 and missed the cut in 2007 and 2006 in his other British Masters starts.