MALMO, Sweden – Alexander Noren clinched his second Nordea Masters title on Sunday, shooting a 1-under 71 to finish four shots ahead of last week’s Irish Open winner Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark.

The 32-year-old Swede easily protected his two-shot overnight lead, finishing with a 12-under total of 276. Kjeldsen also shot a final-round 71.

Max Kieffer of Germany, who was second going into the final round, had two straight double bogeys on the fourth and fifth hole and shot a 75, finishing in a tie for third.

Alexander Levy of France (71) and Swedish duo Jens Dantorp (74) and Sebastian Soderberg (74) also tied for third, six shots behind Noren.

It was Noren’s fourth career European Tour victory. He also won the Nordea Masters in 2011.

MALMO, Sweden – Swedish golfer Alex Noren carded a 5-under-par 67 to take a two-shot lead of the Nordea Masters in the third round on Saturday, while local favorite Henrik Stenson flew up 28 places to lie five shots back.

Noren, whose victory here in 2011 was his third and last on the European Tour, birdied four of his first five holes. He has three top-10s this year, including runner-up at the Dubai Desert Classic to Rory McIlroy.

Maximilian Kieffer of Germany was two shots behind after a 70, and Sebastian Soderberg (71) another shot back with Swedish countryman Jens Dantorp (73).

Stenson, the highest-ranked golfer in the field at No. 4, scored an eagle-3 on the first hole and birdied his last hole in a 68 to climb into a three-way tie for sixth.

Local amateur Marcus Kinhult, who led during the first two days, shot 77 and dropped into a tie for 14th.

MALMO, Sweden – Amateur golfer Marcus Kinhult of Sweden held on to a share of the lead of the Nordea Masters after a 4-under 68 in the second round Friday.

The 18-year-old Kinhult made his only bogey of the day on the sixth hole but bounced back with a birdie on the seventh. He is tied with fellow Swede Jens Dantorp (68) on 9-under 135.

The duo was two shots clear of countryman Sebastian Soderberg (70) and Germany’s Maximilian Kiefer, who bogeyed the final two holes to settle for a 69.

Mark Foster of England had a hole-in-one on the fourth hole but was tied for 80th after a 71.

Chris Paisley of England, who was in a three-way tie for the first-round lead with Kinhult and Dantorp, fell down the leaderboard after a 73.

MALMO, Sweden – Swedish amateur Marcus Kinhult was in a three-way tie for the lead after the opening day of the Nordea Masters on 5-under-par 67 on Thursday.

Countryman Jens Dantorp and England’s Chris Paisley were with him, one stroke ahead of nine golfers on 4 under.

The 18-year-old Kinhult sank five birdies on the back nine.

“I just want to keep on playing and hope I’ll be able to accelerate. It’s just the first of four rounds,” he told Swedish news agency TT.

Paisley bogeyed his second hole but hit six birdies at PGA Sweden National.

World No. 4 Henrik Stenson came in at 2 under, while defending champion Thongchai Jaidee scored a 1-over 73.

NEWCASTLE, Northern Ireland – Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark won the Irish Open in a three-way playoff Sunday after his short winning putt on the first extra hole just barely managed to avoid lipping out.

Kjeldsen entered the final round with a two-stroke lead, but shot a 5-over 76 to finish tied with Eddie Pepperell of England (69) and Bernd Wiesberger of Austria (73). All scored a 2-under total of 282 on the wind-swept, rain-battered Royal County Down, where just five of the 156 competitors finished the tournament under par.

The 40-year-old Kjeldsen took command of the playoff with a precision chip onto the narrow sloping green of the par-5, 525-yard 18th hole – which he had bogeyed Thursday and Saturday and nearly again Sunday.

Wiesberger’s second shot came up short, while Pepperell twice found the rough to bogey the hole. Wiesberger managed par and hoped Kjeldsen would slip up.

But Kjeldsen struck a 35-foot eagle putt that stopped just 3 feet right of the pin. His putt for a winning birdie circled the rim before falling in.

Kjeldsen couldn’t help but smile. Ranked just 303rd in the world entering the Irish Open, he qualified for the British Open with the win. He last played in Europe’s biggest tournament in 2009.

“It’s ridiculous, like I’m dreaming but I don’t want anyone to wake me up,” he said while holding the crystal trophy alongside Rory McIlroy, the host for the Irish Open who failed to make Friday’s cut. McIlroy was far from the only big name who struggled, as many struggled to sink even straightforward putts amid gusting winds and violent rain showers sweeping down onto the seaside course from the nearby Mourne Mountains.

Kjeldsen displayed the same final-stretch nerves that had cost him shots Saturday when he bogeyed the two final holes.

On Sunday he lost a one-shot lead at the par-4 17th despite putting to within 5 feet of the hole on a 35-foot birdie attempt amid 40 mph (65 kph) winds. The crowd groaned when his short putt for par rolled wide.

And on the 18th, he nearly threw away his chance at the playoff, over-hitting his third shot from manicured rough straight across the green and behind another green-side obstacle. But he salvaged that position for par.

Kjeldsen admitted that he felt many times like he might have blown his chance of victory with inadequate play, but found reassurance every time he looked at the leaderboard to discover most of his rivals were struggling, too.

“It was just a brutal day for everyone,” he said. “I think the last breath I took was at about 14. I’ve never been as nervous as this.”

The Irish Open is Kjeldsen’s fourth tour victory. He won the 2009 Andalucia Open, the 2008 Volvo Masters at Valderrama, Spain, and the 2003 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, Scotland.

NEWCASTLE, Northern Ireland – Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark shot a 4-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead Saturday in the third round of the Irish Open.

The 40-year-old Kjeldsen used superior putting to break free of a six-way tie as gusting winds at Royal County Down sabotaged many players’ short games.

He rolled a long eagle attempt on the 12th to within 18 inches, settling for his fifth birdie. On the next hole, his curling 30-yard putt for a sixth birdie left Kjeldsen punching the air in jubilation.

But Kjeldsen, ranked 303rd, bogeyed the final two holes to reduce his lead over Rafa Cabrera-Bello of Spain and Maximilian Kieffer of Germany.

Kieffer shot a course-record round of 65, one shot lower than the previous best set in 1939 and matched Friday.

NEWCASTLE, Northern Ireland – Early exits are becoming a habit for Rory McIlroy, especially in his home country.

The 26-year-old Northern Ireland native failed to make the Irish Open cut for the third straight year Friday, shooting an even-par 71 that failed to make up for an 80 in the opening round. It is the second straight week the world’s top-ranked golfer failed to make the weekend, having exited early at the PGA Championship at Wentworth.

This one, he said, hurt more because it’s personal.

“Obviously I’m playing at home in front of a lot of friends and family. To not play the way I wanted is very disappointing. But I’m sort of getting used to it,” said a downcast McIlroy, whose Rory Foundation charity hosted the Irish Open for the first time.

England’s Tyrrell Hatton showed the field at Royal County Down that the seaside links course, bedeviled with unseasonably frigid gales and pelting showers, could be tamed.

The 23-year-old Hatton, ranked 142nd in the world, set a new course record of 66 to join a five-way tie for the lead at 3-under 139. His score tied a mark from 1939, but club and European Tour officials said it was considered a new record because the course has greatly changed over the past 76 years.

Only 15 of the 156-player field managed to beat par Friday as the changing weather drove the cutoff score to 5 over.

Ireland’s Shane Lowry summed up the sense of frustration when he smashed his putter against his bag and broke it after missing a short putt for par on his third hole. Lowry actually played better when forced to putt with his wedge, managing three birdies and making the cut with a 74.

“Golf’s a weird game and it’ll drive you mad sometimes,” said Lowry, who thanked his caddie for persuading him to stay on the course.

Local fans made the Irish Open a four-day, 80,000-ticket sellout in hopes of seeing McIlroy at his best. He gave them brief hope Friday when he sank a 30-foot putt on the short seventh for his first birdie of the tournament. He picked up another shot at the 12th and needed just two more birdies to make the cut.

But McIlroy mis-hit his approach to the 15th and three-putted for a double bogey, erasing the day’s gains.

“I just shot myself in the foot,” he said.

He drove his shot off the 18th tee into an impenetrable wall of thorny gorse bushes and, after taking a penalty drop, saved par with a 15-foot putt in front of the cheering grandstand.

But McIlroy said he wasn’t relishing the tournament’s final two days.

“I might have to show my face at a couple things,” he said.

He now has nearly three weeks to prepare for the U.S. Open.

“I’m honestly looking forward to a couple weeks off,” he said.

NEWCASTLE, Northern Ireland –  Rory McIlroy can’t seem to perform in front of a home crowd.

The Northern Ireland star looked bewildered as he shot a 9-over-par 80 – his worst score of the season – in Thursday’s opening round of the Irish Open. He fell to the bottom of the morning’s leaderboard and finished tied for 150th place at the end of the day.

Many other players struggled amid gales and pounding showers at Royal County Down, a links course in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains famed for its stunning seaside setting, blind approaches and undulating greens. But the scores improved as the winds eased somewhat and the afternoon sun came out.

Taking advantage were Irish veteran Padraig Harrington and unheralded Maximilian Kieffer of Germany, who both shot 67 to share the lead.

The 43-year-old Harrington, who hasn’t won on the European Tour since 2008 but took the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic in March, said understanding the strong winds gave him a tactical advantage. He birdied five of the final eight, but edged an 8-foot putt for birdie just wide on the final hole. Had he made it, Harrington would have tied the 76-year-old course record.

“There’s plenty of ways to get around this golf course in the wind. I was happy to see it,” said Harrington, who won the Irish Open in 2007.

The 290th-ranked Kieffer, 24, was in the last group to start and not expected to contend. But he eagled the par-5, 525-yard 12th hole on his way to one of his best rounds since finishing second in the 2013 Spanish Open.

McIlroy bogeyed half of the course and couldn’t hit a birdie. The sellout crowd of nearly 20,000 gasped with each miss, and offered relieved applause as he narrowly two-putted his final hole for par.

“My poor iron play led to missed greens, which led to giving myself a lot of 8- to 12-footers for pars, and that led to missing all of them,” said McIlroy, who described his play as “worse as I got closer to the green.”

He had played three practice rounds at the course south of Belfast after failing to make the cut at Wentworth last weekend, but the unexpected extra practice didn’t help his play.

If McIlroy fails to make the cut Friday, it would be his third straight early exit at the Irish Open. He’s never come close to winning the event in eight tries.

McIlroy, whose Rory Foundation children’s charity is hosting the Irish Open for the first time, said he might need to shoot a 66 on Friday to make the cut. That would match the course record set by Jimmy Bruen in 1939.

McIlroy said his first goal is to give Northern Ireland fans “something to cheer about and not just have sympathy claps.”

Local fan favorite Darren Clarke, who has rarely contended since winning the 2011 British Open, also struggled in shooting a 75.

“We all want to play well,” he said, “but sometimes the ball doesn’t realize that.”

VIRGINIA WATER, England – Byeong Hun An shot a 7-under 65 to win the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on Sunday with a tournament record total of 21 under.

The South Korean made five birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round to finish six strokes clear of Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand (69) and Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain (67).

The 23-year-old An captured his first European Tour victory after Francesco Molinari, who had at least a share of the lead for the first three rounds, only managed a 74. He finished fifth, nine shots back.

“I was really nervous the whole day,” An said. “I had not even played this course until Monday … My iron shots helped me this week, I hit a lot of greens and did not miss many putts.”

An, who won the U.S. Amateur Open in 2009, takes $918,000 for first place at the European Tour’s flagship event.

The victory comes in his first appearance at Wentworth and also secures him a place at the U.S. Open.

An never showed signs of his nerves in an assured performance on the final day.

He started with birdies on Nos. 2 and 4, where he sent a magnificent bunker shot to within two feet of the flag, before accelerating away from the field with some composed iron play and clinical putting on the back nine.

His third birdie came on No. 11 before he was close to an albatross on No. 12. His approach from 193 yards with a 5-iron nestled inches away from the hole.

An duly tapped in for eagle, and his three-shot advantage grew to four when Jaidee bogeyed the 13th. He sealed his record victory with two more birdies on Nos. 15 and 17.

“It was 15, that birdie, where I thought with three holes to go, that my lead would do it,” An said. “Before then, I never thought about winning it. I tried not to look at the leaderboard but it was not easy.”

Molinari, a three-time European Tour winner, made five bogeys and a double-bogey on No. 16, where the Italian teed off into a fairway bunker before three-putting on the green.

England’s Chris Wood finished fourth after a 6-under 66 took him to 13-under 275 for the tournament. His round included a hole-in-one at No. 14, the fifth of the tournament.

VIRGINIA WATER, England – Byeong Hun An shot a 5-under 67 Saturday to share the lead with Francesco Molinari after the third round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

The South Korean trailed by a shot at the midway stage but made seven birdies, including two in the last two holes, to equal the Italian’s overall score of 14-under 202 going into the final day.

Molinari, who has led from round one, shot a 68. Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand was two shots back in third after a 68, while Tommy Fleetwood and Miguel Angel Jimenez provided the highlights of the day as they also advanced up the leaderboard.

“It is not easy to lead the tournament from the first day even though it is the ideal position,” Molinari said. “You’ve got guys coming for you. Today, you could hear the roars for eagles and an albatross.”

The roars Molinari heard were mainly for Fleetwood and Jimenez, who galvanized the crowd at the European Tour’s flagship event.

The evergreen 51-year-old Jimenez, a winner at Wentworth in 2008, hit a European Tour-record 10th hole-in-one when he converted his tee shot from 148 yards at the par-3 No. 2 with a 9-iron.

It was the Spaniard’s third hole-in-one this season and his round of 68 took him to 10 under and into fifth place.

“I got the right club in my hand and it was a beautiful swing,” Jimenez said of his ace. “It is nice to see the leaderboard and not be too far away.”

Fleetwood made an albatross on the par-5 fourth hole, with a 7-iron from 198 yards.

The Englishman followed it up with an eagle from 15 feet on No. 12 and went on to card a 65 to rise into fourth.

“That was about as good as you can play a hole of golf,” Fleetwood said of his albatross. “Perfect drive, 198 yards to the pin. I was thinking one (club) less but went with a normal 7-iron and it pitched seven or eight feet right of the pin and span in.”

The 23-year-old An is competing in his first full season on the European Tour after playing on the second-tier Challenge Tour for three years.

“It was really consistent all day,” An said. “I started with a birdie and it is good I am a co-leader. But I am going to play my game and not look at the position I am in when I try and play my shots tomorrow.”

Top-ranked Rory McIlroy missed the cut after a 78 on Friday.