In the last tournament before the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, it was a member Europe’s team — albeit not a player — who came away victorious at the 2025 BMW PGA Championship. Alex Noren, who was recently named vice captain by Luke Donald, nabbed the second BMW PGA Championship title of his career.

Noren finished 19 under in regulation before making birdie on the first playoff hole to skirt past Adrien Saddier for the title. The triumph marks Noren’s third Rolex Series win and the 12th of his DP World Tour career. His 11th came just two starts ago at the British Masters as the Swede has now found his way into the winner’s circle two times in his last three tournaments after going winless worldwide for the last seven years.

“So many emotions right now,” Noren said. “The playoff felt a lit bit easier than coming down the 72nd hole, a little bit better conditions. I thought I hit [my second shot] into the water … and got fortunate with a good break. The chip was sitting quite nicely, and I saw his ball didn’t catch as nice as a break, so it makes a difference.”

Noren shared the 54-hole lead with Saddier entering the final round at Wentworth thanks to an eagle on the par-5 18th to polish off Saturday’s action. The 43-year-old kept the momentum rolling into Sunday as he made birdie on two of his first four holes to go up by as many over his playing partner.

Giving one back on the par-3 4th, Noren turned one clear of the Frenchman as the two dodged runs by the likes of Aaron Rai and Patrick Reed up ahead on the golf course. Saddier made birdies on three of his first five holes on the back nine which was enough to pull even with Noren with two holes to play.

With the final two holes posing as par 5s at Wentworth, Noren rolled in a birdie bid from distance on No. 17 only to be matched by Saddier shortly after. An exchange of pars on the last meant a return to the tee box for extra holes.

In the playoff, Noren attempted to go for the protected green with his second and received a fortuitous break when his ball settled short and left of the water hazard which lines the green. With Saddier long of the surface lying three, Noren clipped his third to perfection from just in front and tapped in for birdie moments later to secure another trophy. 

While Noren’s name will be etched onto the BMW PGA Championship again, it was the names of the 12 members of the European Ryder Cup team that commanded the bulk of the attention this week. A trio of them in Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick finished inside the top five while Rory McIlroy finished with a final-round 65 with strong closing efforts from Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood as well. Robert MacIntyre and Rasmus Højgaard were the only two players on the roster to miss the cut.

“I think we definitely are getting into Ryder Cup mode,” McIlroy said. “We had a really good team dinner on Tuesday night with the caddies, and the wives and the partners were there, as well. We’re getting ready to go on this practice trip tonight to New York. 

“Yeah, it’s sort of — there’s been a lot of talk and a lot of chat and a lot of thinking about the Ryder Cup. But you still want to play well this week. I saw glimpse of that. There was a lot of birdies and eagles and just a few too many bogeys and double-bogeys to have a chance to win but overall, happy with the week and obviously very excited for what’s to come in a couple weeks’ time.”

The European team will now travel to New York where it plans to take a scouting trip to Bethpage Black. The squad will play the Ryder Cup host course across two days and plans to stay in the United States for the entire week in order to assimilate to the time zone difference. Not all 12 will be required to stick together as some may return to their residences on the East Coast in the U.S. while others will play various golf courses in the New York area.

When the Ryder Cup kicks off, Europe will attempt to become the first away team since 2012 to raise the cup on opposing soil. Both McIlroy and Justin Rose were on that European team which came back from a 10 to 6 deficit on Sunday singles to shock the Americans at Medinah. Their headman, captain Luke Donald, was as well. 

“Well, wouldn’t be the first time miracles happened twice. Got to have faith,” Rahm said of potentially winning the Ryder Cup on U.S. soil. “I think we’re playing good enough and we are a good and strong enough team to face what we are going to face at Bethpage and hopefully end up with the Cup.”