Alex Noren feeling confident after lowest Major round at Valhalla

Alex Noren is hoping to use his performance at this week's US PGA Championship as a springboard to getting back to his best after carding his lowest round at a Major on the final day at Valhalla Golf Club.

The Swede has been a serial winner on the DP World Tour, racking up ten victories including two Rolex Series wins but the last of those came in 2018, the same year he was part of Europe's victorious Ryder Cup team.

His record in Major Championships coming into this week contained two top tens from 36 appearances with a lowest round of 67, a score he matched on Thursday.

But as part of what he regarded his best performance on a weekend, he finished with a bogey-free 65 to fly up the leaderboard and finish at 12 under in Kentucky.

The World Number 59 has now made 17 consecutive cuts with three top threes since October and is hopeful of rediscovering the form that had him inside the top ten on the Official World Golf Ranking.

"I've never hit it this good on the weekend and throughout a tournament and I showed to myself this weekend that I can compete up here," he said.

"I'm going to be short this week but it's a big mental step for me to understand that I have a good enough game to compete.

"I'm very, very pleased and I'm going to take that with me and then try to get the putter sorted for four straight rounds."

A chip-in on the ninth was the highlight of Noren's round which also included birdies on the fourth, seventh, 12th, 13th and 16th but the 41-year-old felt a change of putter was key to his success.

"I played a really good round yesterday but didn't putt very well," he said. "Then I changed back to my other putter, very similar, and then a little bit different approach to the putting and it felt better from the start.

"I just missed some on the edge but it still felt better.

"I knew I could get some more birdies today if I just kept at it. I played similar to yesterday, otherwise and happy with a good round."