Alex Noren hits his tee shot on Saturday on the 9th hole at Port Royal Golf Course.
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Alex Noren? He says he’ll be excited. Camilo Villegas? Calm.
It’s worked so far. Noren is your 54-hole leader at the Bermuda Championship, Villegas is two back, and with Matti Schmid on Sunday, they’ll make up the final grouping at Port Royal Golf Course. But the veterans want to let you in on a pair of little secrets.
Noren? He was once very un-excited.
Nervous, really, in these spots. The 41-year-old from Sweden has carved out a nice pro golf career, winning 11 times internationally, but he’s never won on the PGA Tour, and he has a thought as to maybe why.
“I think [Sunday will be] more excitement actually because I’m very happy with life in general, so wonderful family,” he said Saturday. “I’m not as nervous as I would have been maybe when I was more on my own 10 years ago. So it’s a different experience having this sort of — it’s more excitement.”
And Villegas?
Villegas, yes, was once un-calm.
Antsy, honestly. The 41-year-old from Colombia has been a star. He won the 2008 Tour Championship. He had the cool, Spiderman putting setup. But he’s fallen some, with no wins in nine years, though he thinks he may know the cause.
“I was getting a little too rattled when putts lipped out or hit a bad shot, and I was just kind of going away. It was affecting the way I was playing,” Villegas said Saturday. “You just want it so bad. As a golfer struggling like I’ve struggled the last several years, I think you want it so bad you start trying so hard and things just — the game comes and bites you. So I’ve been trying to let the game be the game and let my mind be calm and at peace. It’s been pretty good the last couple weeks, so let’s keep it going.”
Is there some lessons there? You bet. For them. Perhaps for you.
With that, here are the complete round-four pairings for Sunday. Golf Channel coverage starts at 11 a.m. ET.
2023 Bermuda Championship round 4 tee times (all times ET)
Tee No. 1
6:40 a.m. — Luke List, Brian Stuard, Charley Hoffman
6:50 a.m. — Kyle Westmoreland, Ben Griffin, Fred Biondi
7 a.m. — Scott Piercy, Sean O’Hair, Tyson Alexander Coming
7:10 a.m. — Robert Garrigus, Brandon Wu, Austin Cook
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.