Viktor Hovland captures Tour Championship, wins first FedExCup

ATLANTA – Long seen as a rising star on the PGA Tour, Viktor Hovland has officially arrived.

The 25-year-old ran away with the Tour Championship and lifted the FedExCup trophy for the first time in his young career on Sunday evening in Atlanta.

The Norwegian entered the day with a six-shot advantage over Xander Schauffele and never let that margin become smaller than three.

He turned in a final-round 63 at East Lake Golf Club to finish at 27 under, while Schauffele fired an eight-under 62 – the lowest round of the day – but landed at 22 under for the week.

Hovland won the PGA Tour’s season-long points race and bagged US$18 million (S$24.4 million) in the process. He shot a final-round 61 last week to win the second leg of the FedExCup play-offs, the BMW Championship, which vaulted him to second place (eight under) to start the Tour Championship.

Jordan Spieth (2015) and Justin Thomas (2017) were the only players younger than Hovland to win the FedExCup.

“I feel like I’ve taken a lot of steps this season,” Hovland said. “Contending in more Major championships, I finally won in the US, 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 And then, obviously, the last couple weeks have just superseded that.”

He and Schauffele each birdied four of their first six holes on Sunday to separate from the rest of the field. Schauffele found an even higher gear, making putts of 11, 18 and 12 feet for three more birdies at Nos. 8, 11 and 12 to close the gap.

But Hovland held his ground by saving par for nine straight holes. The most critical may have been at the par-four 14th, when Schauffele was already in with a four and Hovland sank a curling, right-to-left par putt from 23 feet out.

“I think I was four 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 said.

“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 until the 18th.

Schauffele recorded his 28th consecutive round of par or better at East Lake, but it was not enough to help him overtake the entire field. He began the week seven shots off the pace at three under. He settled for the US$6.5 million second prize.

“It was the most fun I had losing in quite some time. It’s a weird feeling. I shot 62. I lost by five. Kudos to Viktor,” said Schauffele.

The final pairing was playing the par-three second hole when the horn sounded to signal a weather delay. Lightning strikes were in the vicinity of the course and a downpour soon arrived as well.

After a delay of 1hr 53min, Hovland and Schauffele returned to the hole and Hovland saved par from 16 feet.

“(Schauffele) had birdied the first hole as well and he had a nice opportunity on No. 2,” the Oklahoma State product said. “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.”

US Open champion Wyndham Clark shot a 65 to finish third at 16 under and collect US$5 million.

Four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, last year’s FedEx Cup champion, birdied five of his final seven holes to post a 65 and place fourth at 14 under. Patrick Cantlay (66) was fifth at 13 under.

The season will resume with the “FedExCup Fall” series, starting on Sept 14, at the Fortinet Championship in Napa, California.

But the big event of the autumn is the Ryder Cup, scheduled for Sept 29 to Oct 1, in Rome. Players like Schauffele, Hovland and McIlroy have already earned spots on their respective teams.

“The other 11 guys on the European team, I don’t think, would have an issue if they went out with Viktor,” McIlroy said. REUTERS