Sweden’s Alex Noren will head to the British Open in the best possible form after capturing the Scottish Open title in Inverness on Sunday.
Noren, who turns 34 today, celebrated a fifth European Tour victory courtesy of a closing round 70 and winning by a shot with a 14-under par tally in rainy conditions on the Castle Stuart course in northern Scotland. Noren went into the last day leading by two shots.
New Zealand’s Danny Lee drawing level near mid-round, but while the Monaco-based Noren admitted to being nervous, he was never headed and moved back to two shots clear of his rivals with birdies at the 12th and 15th holes.
The Swede, who had been sidelined for all of 2014 with tendinitis in both wrists, was challenged by England’s Tyrrell Hatton who birdied the last in a round of 69 for a 13-under par tally.
But Noren held on holing a short par at the last to claim the 645,000 Euro ($713,000, £550,000) first prize cheque — the highest of his 11-year professional career.
“I was just so nervous the whole day today but when the game doesn’t feel as good as it looks, you just want it be over somehow and come up with the win and that’s what happened,” said Noren ahead of travelling down Scotland to Royal Troon, near Glasgow, where the British Open starts on Thursday.
“But then it feels really good to win and to be heading now to The Open, though I have been having trouble with my driver a bit and the guys at Callaway changed the driver for me to one where the ball doesn’t go too much right.
“So the driver has been great and that is kind of what has been lacking in my game...By hitting more fairways, as I have done this week, then it helps in playing golf on links (coastal) courses like this.
“And this is by far the biggest win, the amount of players that are here, and on a course like this in Scotland, it’s only what I dreamt of growing up.”
 Manassero revival
Hatton, 24 also secured the biggest cheque of his short five-year pro career in earning 430,000 euros after being tied with three others and with a hole to play. It was Hatton’s second runners-up finish on the Tour and also earned him a place in the British Open field.
Three players — Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts (66), New Zealand’s Danny Lee (69) and Italy’s Matteo Manassero (70) — shared third place on 12-under par. Manassero’s effort was his highest finish on the European Tour since fourth in the same event two years ago, and also got the 23-year-old into the British Open.
In 2010, the then 17-year old Manassero became the youngest winner in the history of the Tour in capturing the Castellon Masters. Two years later, he climbed to a career high of No 25 in the world.
However, when he teed-up in northern Scotland on Thursday the Italian had slumped to 596th in the world rankings.
But this result signalled an upturn in Manassero’s fortunes.
“This is a really good moment for me, and all these struggles and hard work and stuff are obviously paying off and hopefully next time I’ll be holding a trophy,” he said.
Joining Manassero and Hatton in securing spots for The Open — the only one of golf’s four Majors staged outside the United States — were Colsaerts and Scotland’s Richie Ramsay (67) who shared sixth place on 11-under par.
The American duo of Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson also head to Royal Troon in decent form, with Reed birdieing two of his closing three holes in a score of 67 to share ninth place on nine under par.
Former Scottish and British Open champion Mickelson finished with a 66 to share 13th place at seven under par.

Leading and selected scores
274 —Alex Noren (SWE) 70, 66, 68, 70.
275—Tyrrell Hatton 70, 70, 66, 69.
276—Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 74, 70, 66, 66, Danny Lee (NZL) 71, 66, 70, 69, Matteo Manassero (ITA) 71, 67, 68, 70
277—Richie Ramsay, 72, 68, 70, 67, Andy Sullivan 70, 70, 68, 69.
278—Callum Shinkwin 74, 69, 70, 65, Jorge Campillo (ESP) 72, 66, 72, 68
279—Russell Knox 72, 70, 70, 67, Patrick Reed (USA) 75, 70, 67, 67, Graeme McDowell 70, 69, 69, 71
Selected:
281—Phil Mickelson (USA) 76, 69, 70, 66, Martin Kaymer (GER) 72, 70, 68, 71
282—Steve Stricker (USA) 74, 71, 70, 67, Padraig Harrington 70, 69, 72, 71.
286—Luke Donald 71, 72, 69, 74