Thursday 7 September 2017 09:50, UK
Lee Slattery and Alex Noren head into this week's Omega European Masters having enjoyed a momentous few days in their personal lives.
Slattery became a father for the second time earlier this week as he watched his wife, Faye, give birth to their daughter from his apartment in Switzerland, while Noren arrived at Crans-sur-Sierre on his honeymoon following his wedding last weekend.
English veteran Slattery was expected to return home to witness the birth of his second child after last week's Czech Masters, where he led by two shots going into the final round only to be surpassed by Haydn Porteous.
But 39-year-old chose to head to Switzerland despite his wife being more than a week overdue, and he revealed that he was able to witness the birth via FaceTime.
"She's had the baby, and I'm calling it a FaceTime Baby," Slattery told Sky Sports. "It was amazing. I went for a curry with my friends and got halfway through it before I got the phone call. I thought she had to have the curry to give birth, I didn't realise it was me!
"I got back to the apartment I'm staying in this week, and within half an hour she had the baby. It was absolutely incredible, it was great to watch and I was in floods. We named her Penelope, or Penny for short. Mum is very, very well, and she made it look very easy!"
Noren, meanwhile, insisted the picturesque setting of the Swiss Alps was a great place to start his honeymoon, although he still has to focus on attempting to retain the title he won after a play-off against Scott Hend 12 months ago - the second of his four victories in a lucrative 2016 season.
"This is our honeymoon, it's beautiful," said the Swede, who tied the knot with long-time partner Jennifer at the weekend. "Maybe a real honeymoon later on but it's a beautiful place to come to, I've always liked it here and I think everybody who's ever played here thinks it's one of the most beautiful courses and places in the world.
"We have a year-and-a-half-old kid but to get married is special still. I didn't think it was going to be as special a feeling as it was but we had a great day with all the friends and a few golfers over there. Maybe the girls looked forward to it even more but it was a good party as well!"
Noren has not been as prolific this season, although he did claim a memorable victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May, when he fired a sensational final-round 62 to claim a two-stroke triumph.
"Winning is very tough and you need to have your whole game in place," he added. "The thing I'm happy with this season, I managed to play good at some of the events that I've never played good at. I'm playing a little bit better in America than I have in the past so it's not all about the wins.
"You just try to play well against good fields and I feel like I've done that this year and I'm happy with my performances. We'll see how it goes but I'm trying my best. The last few years have obviously been good to me and now I'm trying to get better all the time. It's not so easy but I'm doing everything I can.
"I've always liked this place, I like how the golf course plays. The greens are very tricky, like the 11th and 13th. I haven't played 11 this year but in the past, they were maybe the most difficult holes on the course and they've changed them.
"They're very beautiful now but the greens are a little bit bigger than in the past. I think it's fun that it's very tricky to hit the greens and very tricky to stay on the greens and to chip around here."
