IVINS, Utah – Believe it or not, Alex Noren was more than happy on the sidelines at the recent Ryder Cup, where he served as a vice captain for Team Europe in its triumphant victory on U.S. soil at Bethpage Black. In fact, he says it's a place he finds more comfortable all the time.

“The older I get, the more I like coaching or coaching my kids or helping out some young players,” the 43-year-old Swede said Wednesday before the start of the Bank of Utah Championship, where he’s making his tournament debut.

“It was interesting to be on the coaching side of things even though my role wasn't to coach the players,” he continued, “but maybe just an overall behind-the-scenes trying to get the team going. … As a player I can really understand what the players are going through. If they're playing well, (but) just lipping out a bunch of putts, you just got to stay with it. Stay with it. Just small comments like that can help from maybe another player as well.”

Noren is taking his own advice to heart this week in the southern Utah desert, where he looks to keep making moves – on the leaderboard and in the rankings – as he chases his PGA TOUR card for 2026. Currently ranked No. 17 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Noren is also No. 8 in the DP World Tour’s rankings and No. 5 in Race to Dubai Rankings - PGA TOUR Eligibility standings. The top 10 finishers on the DP World Tour’s season-long points race, not otherwise exempt, will be eligible for dual membership on the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour next season.

“It's very important,” he said regarding his status, which is even more notable given that Noren didn’t play the first four and a half months of the year after suffering a hamstring tendon tear in January, just prior to the start of The Sentry. “… I try to keep up all these three rankings.”

A 12-time winner on the DP World Tour, Noren drew on previous experience to deal with the extended rehab, noting he’s dealt with injury before. “I don't think it would've been as maybe easy or it would've been a lot harder when I was 25, 28 to come back,” he said regarding the 31-week layoff. “But at the end of the day, it's just golf or sport, so you and your team probably get a good formula how to do it and then just do it, keep at it, even though it feels tough at moments.”

Noren returned to competition in May at the Truist Championship, where he finished T51, followed by a T17 finish at the PGA Championship. But it wasn’t until the end of July – after back-to-back missed cuts at the Rocket Classic and Genesis Scottish Open – that things started to click for the Swede. A T7 at the 3M Open and a T3 at the Wyndham Championship kicked off a winning stretch for Noren that included a “W” at the DP World Tour’s Betfred British Masters in mid-August and victory at the BMW PGA Championship in September.

“It was just – the whole game just got a little better,” said Noren. “Worked on good stuff. Got a bit of momentum. It's how golf goes. I think (it doesn’t just happen), but it happens with confidence, with a little bit of momentum, and then good practice.”

Not only did Noren credit “good practice,” but also a fruitful visit with his old putting coach in Sweden, as well as more regular visits to his swing coach, Matt Belsham, who is based in England. His work with Belsham included a key swing change that appears to have paid off: “I made an effort to kind of try to see him more, and just with those regular visits, we started working on maybe a more neutral swing or (being) neutral in every part of the game and to kind of get a better baseline for probably more versatile game on the course.”

Most recently, Noren notched a T27 finish at the Baycurrent Classic, and he’s looking to continue the momentum this week at Black Desert Resort, thanks to a key takeaway from last season.

“I learned a lot from last year,” said Noren, who played just twice last fall after competing in August at the Paris Olympics, where he finished T45. “I took some time off in the fall, and I think it's better for me to keep up my tournament play and not have too much time to just practice.

“I'm a bit more in-game shape when I have a regular sort of schedule, so I was really excited to play here. Always liked sort of desert style and dry courses. … I like that sort of golf.”