Ryder Cup 2018: Alex Noren, Team Europe's quiet man, is ready to turn up the volume at Le Golf National

Exclusive interview: Noren speaks to The Independent about growth, his first Ryder Cup and those calloused hands

Alex Noren’s first experience of the Ryder Cup was from the other side of the rope. In 2006 - then just a 24-year-old Challenge Tour pro fresh out of college - he travelled with his brother Andreas to the K Club in Ireland to watch as a spectator. Rain hammered down all weekend, and so did the Europeans. The final margin was a record 18½-9½, but what Noren remembers, most vividly of all, was the buzz.

“That was my first taste of the thrilling atmosphere,” he says now. “The singing fans, the cheering, the sensation of experiencing something unique. I knew then that I wanted to be inside the rope some day.”

Twelve years on, he finally made it. This week, he will line up for his first Ryder Cup at the age of 36, a rookie who has nonetheless never known his game or himself better. It has, he admits, been “a long journey” to the first tee at Le Golf National from the picturesque Haninge Club on the outskirts of Stockholm, where he took his first steps into golfing renown.

Recognition has come relatively late in life: Noren may well be the least heralded of the 12 Europeans taking to the course this week, but don’t let the easy manner and gentle reserve fool you. Noren may be quiet enough off the course, but on it, he’s a killer. “On the outside, I might appear quite relaxed,” he says. “On the inside, I’m always on, full speed ahead.”

And in the crock pot of Ryder Cup weekend, Noren’s assassin-cool may be just what Thomas Bjorn needs to overturn the odds and avert America’s first win on European soil for a generation. It’s not so much the volume of Noren’s achievements in recent years - seven wins since 2015, taking him from the light rough of the world’s top 100 to the collar of the top 10 - as the way he’s done it.

Noren has a habit of finding final-day momentum (Getty)

Noren has made a speciality of the spectacular Sunday surge: coming from six shots back to win the Nedbank in 2016, seven shots back at Wentworth in last year’s PGA Championship, hitting a course-record 62, seven shots again to win this year’s French Open by a shot at Le Golf National, the venue for this year’s Cup. Not only is Noren a player for the big occasion; as the form-makers like to say, he’s got course and distance.

“The course demands great play,” he says. “Especially the finishing holes, which are terrifying and fantastic at the same time. I think it will be quite a relaxed, fun atmosphere in the team room, and then a lot of pressure on the course. It’s a group of amazing guys.

“For sure, it’s a different atmosphere. It was great to play the Eurasia Cup earlier this year, a nice preparation with Thomas, and a great team. Playing alongside my European team members and the US team members during the year also gets you comfortable.”

Noren’s story is one of gift and graft. There was always sporting talent there, and the young Alex would play anything going: “I was always drawn to sports with a ball,” he says. “Floorball, soccer, ping-pong, tennis, and of course golf. I believe kids should try out a lot of different sports and not focus on one sport too early.”

And it was to another ball sport that Noren would at the nadir of his career. As he entered his 30s, he had picked up a handful of decent cheques without ever really threatening to make it big. The harder he worked at his game, the more he flogged himself on the range, the less he seemed to understand. There's a famous picture of Noren's calloused hands after a practice session, the skin warped and scaly, his fingers black with rubber, a visual and manual testament to the ravages of elite golf.

Golf has taken its toll on Alex Noren's hands (European Tour)

Then, in 2014, he developed tendinitis in both wrists, and was able to play just two tournaments all year. During his long layoff, he needed to train smarter, not harder. “So tough,” he remembers of that period now. “Golf is such a large part of my life. I played a lot of ping-pong to satisfy my need of a ball sport. But the injury and rehab period also made me realise that I needed a few changes in my structure, practice and way of looking at the game.

“I love to practise. It’s so much fun. But yes, there is a such thing as too much practice. Nowadays I try to practice smarter, with fewer hours on the range and more focus on playing. The tournament schedule is pretty intense, so that also limits the number of hours on the practice area. And I now have a two-year-old daughter that I want to be with as much as possible.”

Noren combines the drive of a rookie with the nous of a veteran (Getty)

And yet curiously, since realising that golf was not his master, Noren has come closer than ever to mastering it. His breakthrough 2016 season came just too late to secure him a spot on Darren Clarke’s team at Hazeltine, but this time he earned qualification with months to spare. Not only that, but he’s picked up several notable matchplay scalps: Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed have all tasted defeat at his hands at the WGC in recent years. “I love match play,” he says boldly. “The intensity and the pressure. You’re only focused on the competitor, so it’s a much more strategic game.”

Having had to wait for his chance, Noren combines the drive of a rookie with the nous of a veteran. A youth spent playing team sports has given him a strong sense of the collective, with none of the ego or effrontery you so often find on the tour.

“I have no need to be famous,” he says with a frankness that takes you aback. “I would rather let the game speak for itself. The game teaches you a lot of life lessons: integrity, values, mental strength. It’s such a tough game sometimes. The fact that you can play and compete your entire life - no matter your skill - adds to the fun.”

And so this week, with his brother watching, Noren will finally get to tee it up inside the rope, a piece of Ryder Cup history that he will be able to script, not just spectate. Has he dared visualise how the weekend might go? “To be part of the winning team on Sunday evening would be an amazing feeling,” he says. “I’ll do my best to make that happen.”