In the latest episode of the Life on Tour presented by Buffalo Trace podcast, Alex Noren reflects on his experience as a Ryder Cup Vice Captain for Team Europe at Bethpage.
With two wins in three starts on the DP World Tour, Noren was among the most in-form golfers in the world leading up to last year’s Ryder Cup.
Two weeks after his second career victory at the British Masters – and his first worldwide victory since 2018 – the Swede also became a two-time champion at the BMW PGA Championship.
With his 12th DP World Tour win at Wentworth Club, Noren rose to 18th in the Official World Golf Ranking - breaking into the top 20 for the first time since the end of 2018.
But, after a season delayed by a hamstring injury that forced him to miss seven months of competitive golf from October 2024 to May 2025, it was too late to make the European team.
Shortly before his triumph at The Belfry, in the final counting event of a year-long qualification period to represent Team Europe at Bethpage, Noren had taken a call from Captain Luke Donald to ask him to serve as one of his Vice Captains.
Such had been the turbulent nature of his season, it was an offer that the 43-year-old did not need to think hard about.
"I was extremely happy to be a part of that Ryder Cup," Noren says.
"Right after the Wyndham Championship [on the PGA TOUR in early August], I don’t know the exact date, but maybe two months or a month in advance, I got a call from Luke and straight away I accepted it.
"I was extremely happy to be a part of it, because I knew that specific one was going to be amazing."
It is perhaps to the surprise of many, considering the success he has enjoyed across many years, that Noren has only played in one Ryder Cup.
That came in 2018, when he contributed two points, holing a long putt on the final green to claim a 1UP victory over Bryson DeChambeau in the anchor match of the singles session to seal a 17½-10½ victory at Le Golf National.
Earlier that season he had birdied two of his last three holes to card a closing 67 as he sealed victory at the Ryder Cup host venue in the Open de France on the Rolex Series.
Just like he did then, he again overcame a top field - upstaging Ryder Cup stars Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood among others - to win his third Rolex Series title at the BMW PGA Championship last September.
Such was his experience and form, edging out Adrien Saddier in a play-off, some in the game were asking whether Donald had gone too early in picking Noren as a Vice Captain.
Noren, however, knows the game more than most and was comfortable with missing out, instead relishing the prospect of a new challenge inside the ropes.
"I jokingly said to him [Donald] ‘if I win the next two which would have been The Belfry and Omega [European Masters], then give me a 5% chance to get on the team'", he recalls.
"I won, missed cut and then won but... looking at all the stats, performances and stuff, I wasn’t going to be on the team. I am very realistic in this game, I have been here for a long time. I don’t think I should have been on the team.
"I also talked to the other Vice Captains, maybe I was the second out, third out, fourth out [to miss out], but with more years on Tour and when you have your own kids and I have drawn a little bit towards helping my kids with their sports, whatever they do, or getting into coaching later, I was extremely happy to just have this captaincy role.
"You might not do a whole lot, but you get a lot of experience, you get to be with the guys so maybe I didn’t contribute that much but then for the next Ryder Cup you can learn more for the next. It was amazing, just the whole experience.
"What I really wanted to see was that these 12 players could perform under probably more intense pressure and things thrown at them, still perform and they won. That was amazing.
"That is what I was looking forward to. I knew how bad and tough it can be and they did it and I was like, that is amazing."
In a partisan atmosphere, the European team answered the hostile environment they faced by performing to the highest standards under the highest of pressures.
Among unruly behaviour, fans ignored golfing etiquette by shouting out as players addressed the ball and swung, while personal taunts were directed at Donald's charges.
Reflecting on what he felt crossed the line, Noren said: "I think the toughest thing is when it finally gets quiet and you have that five to seven seconds before a player is going to putt or chip or something that requires finesse than maybe hitting a driver and then right at that millisecond before you take the putter back you get somebody saying outrageous things to you.
"That is tough, when you are not used to it. Maybe if you played baseball, basketball or football, you are used to it. In golf, you are not used to it. Therefore, I think in golf it is tougher to play a one-off tournament where it is like that.
"It was cool to see that they [the players] handled it."
But, still, while the outcome was a positive one for Europe - with Donald becoming only the second captain to lead the team to victories both home and away since Tony Jacklin in 1985 and 1987 - it was far from easy.
Holding a 11½-4½ lead before Sunday's singles, it seemed a formality that Europe would seal victory, but they had to survive a formidable fightback from the United States team.
After Shane Lowry ensured Europe retained the trophy, Tyrrell Hatton finally got Europe to the 14½ points mark as they became the fifth European side to win an away match - and the first since 2012.
On a day of high drama, Noren admits there was a period where he feared the unthinkable would come to pass and Europe would lose from a seemingly unassailable position.
“It was awful, for two hours, maybe the worst feeling I have ever had in golf because I felt mostly for Luke Donald, putting his life on pause to prepare for this and then all the players involved," he reflects.
"It was just incredible. To then, when Shane Lowry made the putt, for a few things to turn around because... I was on the 16th hole and saw three of our guys lose that hole so it was not looking very good. And then, they managed to hold onto it which was very... I didn’t actually believe we were going to win it.”
Donald will lead Europe again next year at Adare Manor, with a shot at making history as the only captain to win three straight times.
It remains to be seen whether Noren will be there in Ireland in a playing capacity, but it would be safe to say being back in the Ryder Cup has only whetted his hunger to put himself in a position to try and earn his place in the team when the event celebrates its 100th anniversary.
"I don't necessarily have result goals," he says. "You know what you want when you are this old!
"The best thing in the whole world is to wake up on a Sunday morning at a tournament and knowing that you have a chance to win that day and I want a bunch of those for the rest of my life until I quit golf.
"So, I just try and collect those because there is no better feeling. I don't live for that, but that is what I play for."
