Long seen as a rising star on the PGA Tour, Viktor Hovland has formally arrived.
Hovland ran away with the Tour Championship and lifted the FedEx Cup trophy for the primary time in his younger profession on Sunday night in Atlanta.
The Norwegian entered the day with a six-shot benefit over Xander Schauffele and by no means let that margin change into smaller than three. Hovland turned in a final-round 63 at East Lake Golf Club to complete at 27 underneath, whereas Schauffele fired an eight-under-par 62 — the bottom spherical of the day — however landed at 22 underneath for the week.
Hovland, 25, received the PGA Tour’s season-long factors race and received $18 million within the course of. He shot a final-round 61 final week to win the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the BMW Championship, which vaulted him to second place (eight underneath) to begin the Tour Championship.
Jordan Spieth (2015) and Justin Thomas (2017) are the one gamers youthful than Hovland to win the FedEx Cup.
“I feel like I’ve taken a lot of steps this season,” Hovland stated. “Contending in more major championships, I finally won in the U.S., I won a big tournament, Jack’s event (the Memorial Tournament), and honestly, after that I felt like I’ve gotten so much better and it was very pleasing to see.
“And then, obviously, the last couple weeks have just superseded that.”
Hovland and Schauffele every birdied 4 of their first six holes on Sunday to separate themselves from the remainder of the sphere. Schauffele discovered a good greater gear, making putts of 11, 18 and 12 toes for 3 extra birdies at Nos. 8, 11 and 12 to shut the hole.
But Hovland held his floor by saving par for 9 straight holes. The most crucial might have been on the par-four 14th, when Schauffele was already in with a 4 and Hovland sank a curling, right-to-left par putt from 23 toes out.
“I think I was 4 under through six, and even then Xander just kept pouring it on and suddenly after I missed those couple of short birdie putts on the back nine, early on the back nine, suddenly the lead was at three, and if I miss that putt on 14, it’s suddenly two,” Hovland stated.
“So what (Schauffele) was doing today was very special. Certainly it made this day a lot more stressful than I felt like it should have been after that start.”
Hovland slammed the door with birdies at Nos. 16, 17 and 18, and Schauffele’s reservoir of birdies ran out till the 18th.
Schauffele recorded his twenty eighth consecutive spherical of par or higher at East Lake, however it wasn’t sufficient to assist him overtake your entire discipline. He started the week seven pictures off the tempo at three underneath.
“I’ll hold my head up high,” Schauffele stated. “It was the most fun I had losing in quite some time. It’s such a weird feeling. I shot 62. I lost by five. Just kudos to Havi.”
The ultimate pairing was enjoying the par-3 second gap when the horn sounded to sign a climate delay. Lightning strikes have been within the neighborhood of the course, and a downpour of rain quickly arrived as effectively.
After a delay of 1 hour and 53 minutes, Hovland and Schauffele returned to the outlet and Hovland saved par from 16 toes.
“(Schauffele) had birdied the first hole as well, and he had a nice opportunity on No. 2,” the Oklahoma State product stated. “So I was thinking, ‘OK, yeah, I have a six-shot lead, but if I miss my putt and he makes his, now it’s suddenly four and it’s a ball game.’ So that was a huge putt to kind of come back from the break and make that immediately and maintain that six-shot lead.”
U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark shot a 65 to complete third at 16 underneath and win $5 million.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, final 12 months’s FedEx Cup champ, birdied 5 of his ultimate seven holes to publish a 65 and place fourth at 14 underneath. Patrick Cantlay (66) was fifth at 13 underneath.
The season will resume with the “FedEx Cup Fall” collection, beginning September 14-17 on the Fortinet Championship in Napa, Calif. But the large occasion of the autumn is the Ryder Cup, scheduled for September 29-October 1 in Rome. Players like Schauffele, Hovland and McIlroy have already earned spots on their respective groups.
“The other 11 guys on the European team I don’t think would have an issue if they went out with Viktor,” McIlroy stated.