In the last few years, after lining up the three best seasons of the career, 2019 has not been a highlight for Alex Norén. In the United States he failed to retain his playing rights on the PGA Tour, nor on the European Tour, where he has previously won ten times, there have been some successes.

The eleventh place in the British Open is the highlight so far this year.

Maybe it will turn in the European Tour Competition in Antalya this week. In any case, Alex Norén has played better than for the first two days and after rounds 66-67 he is second in eleven under par, one behind Austrian Mattias Schwab.

"Good start"

But the 37-year-old's situation could have been even better for the weekend. Norén initially played big on the second round and after birdies in holes 2, 3 and 4 he went up in split lead. After new birdies at holes 6 and 9, Norén led in solitary majesty, two strokes before the nearest competitor.

"It was a good start with some birdies in the beginning and I will try to make some for now," Norén told the track reporter in Viaplay's broadcast.

But the big play came off in the end. The next birdie delayed to the 17th hole, when a long putt with distress and barely thrown into the hole. Then came a really sour end point when Norén on the 18th made his first bogey of the competition, to top it all on a pair of 5 holes which is one of the lightest of the course. Shortly thereafter, Schwab made birdie in the same hole and twisted a lone lead before Norén, the Belgian Thomas Detry and the Englishmen Ross Fisher and Danny Willett.

- Yesterday I played probably the best I've played and today the first nine were fantastic. So there is a lot of positives to bring. If someone had said I would be -11 after two days, I would have taken it, says Norén according to the European Tour.

Need to climb

Alex Norén has plenty to play for this weekend. He also needs to climb some places in the European Tour Race to Dubai to qualify for the two final finals, in South Africa and Dubai. In addition, a successful competition would give important points in the world ranking, where 60-ranked Norén would like to climb back to the top 50 before the turn of the year to play the US Masters next year.

Sunny and windy weather in Turkey has meant perfect golf conditions and this is evident in the results list. Of the 75 players in the starting field, a full 64 are under par, including all Swedes. Marcus Kinhult is split 33rd (–6), Joakim Lagergren divided 45th (–3) and Sebastian Söderberg divided 52nd (–2).