Atlanta [US], August 28 : Displaying his best golf, Norwegian star Viktor Hovland added a second title, one of the biggest of his life, at the TOUR Championship and with it came the FedEx Cup.
Hovland, who started the week at 8-under in the staggered start system used at the Tour Championship, went on to finish at 27-under, which meant he played the 72 holes at East Lake in 19-under, the same as Xander Schauffele, who finished at 22-under after having started the week at 3-under. Hovland closed the season with a 7-under 63 for a five-shot victory at East Lake. The 63 by Hovland was the lowest Sunday score for a TOUR Championship winner.
It was the biggest trophy of his career a FedEx Cup title along with the 18 million US Dollars bonus.
“It's pretty surreal to be standing here right now,” Hovland said after receiving the silver FedExCup trophy. “I played basically my best golf the last two weeks and it couldn't have happened at a better moment.”
Hovland, who won the World Challenge in December at the start of the 2022-23 season, added wins at the Memorial, the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields and the TOUR Championship at East Lake. He played the last two weeks in 36-under par.
Schauffele pushed Hovland, as he got to within three shots with seven holes to go. Hovland kept the challenge at bay with a 25-foot par putt on the 14th hole, and he put Schauffele away with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 16th.
Play on the last day was delayed nearly two hours by thunderstorms, but Hovland and Schauffele, played their best golf.
Schauffele said. “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 Hovi. He played unbelievably well the last few weeks to get himself into this position and to really just put a cherry on top for himself and his team.”
The PGA TOUR player of the year award could now be a three-way fight between the Masters champion Jon Rahm, who has four wins and Scottie Scheffler who has THE PLAYERS Championship among his two wins and the No. 1 ranking from his remarkable consistency.
U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark closed with a 65 to finish third, 11 shots behind Hovland. That was worth a 5 million US Dollars bonus. Rory McIlroy had a 65 to finish fourth and collected 4 million US Dollars, while Patrick Cantlay (66) was alone in fifth to earn 3 million US Dollars.
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