Sports

Viktor Hovland wins PGA Tour’s season-ending FedEx Cup title at East Lake

  • By Peter Scrivener
  • BBC Sport

Image supply, Getty Images

Image caption,

Viktor Hovland stored his feelings in test all through the ultimate spherical, solely permitting himself to smile after holing the ultimate putt

Tour Championship closing leaderboard

-27 V Hovland (Nor); -22 X Schauffele (US); -16 W Clark (US); -14 R McIlroy (NI)

Selected: -11 T Fleetwood (Eng), S Scheffler (US); -10 M Fitzpatrick (Eng); -8 T Hatton (Eng); -7 J Rahm (Spa)

Norway’s Viktor Hovland hit an outstanding bogey-free seven-under-par 63 to win the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup title at East Lake in Atlanta.

Hovland led by six going into Sunday’s closing spherical however was pressed by Xander Schauffele, who shot a 62 and closed to inside three strokes with six to play.

However, Hovland birdied the ultimate three holes to win by 5 strokes on 27 beneath and acquire $18m (£14.1m).

“It’s pretty surreal to be standing here right now,” he stated.

“The game plan before starting was middle of the green, make a lot of pars and make Xander get after it, which he did early so I had to change my game plan a little bit.”

Hovland and Schauffele had equally quick begins, each selecting up 4 birdies of their opening six holes after a close to two-hour delay due to lightning and heavy rain.

The American holed additional birdie putts on the eighth, 11th and 12th holes to scale back the deficit to 3 as Hovland missed possibilities of his personal but in addition holed some essential par putts.

It regarded just like the world quantity 5’s benefit could also be additional diminished on the 14th after he hit a poor chip however he sensationally holed a 23-foot putt to save lots of par.

“That was just huge for momentum because two shots with four holes to go is a lot different from three shots,” he stated.

“And after that I really relaxed.”

His fifth birdie of the day got here on the 16th, to finish a run of 9 pars, and he added two extra on the 17th and 18th to seal his sixth PGA Tour victory and the most important win of his profession within the season-ending match.

Schauffele additionally had a bogey-free spherical as he completed on 22 beneath par to assert the $6.5m runner-up prize from the $75m bonus pot. US Open champion Wyndham Clark completed third on 16 beneath.

World primary Scottie Scheffler, who began the week two pictures forward of Hovland on 10 beneath par as chief of the FedEx Cup standings, had a disappointing week and closed with a level-par 70 to complete on 11 beneath.

McIlroy’s again ‘near 100%’

Three-time champion Rory McIlroy, who had been battling a again harm all week, closed with a five-under 65 to complete fourth on 14 beneath par.

“As the week went on it got looser and [on Sunday] it was pretty close to 100%,” the Northern Irishman stated on Sky Sports.

“I wish I had felt like this the rest of the week but even without a bad back I’m not sure I’d have been able to hang with the two guys in front.”

The world quantity two picked up the harm at the beginning of week whereas exercising, resulting in preliminary concern about his health for subsequent month’s Ryder Cup.

However, McIlroy appeared unconcerned, including: “My recreation is the place it must be and so long as I keep wholesome for the subsequent few weeks I’m excited to get again to Europe, play in Ireland and at Wentworth [in September’s BMW PGA Championship] and finally get my recreation in form for the Ryder Cup.

“It might be good to all get collectively, get some early crew dinners earlier than the week in Rome and really feel like that crew chemistry is beginning already.

“There’s still a few weeks to go, but it’s the next big thing in all of our calendars.”

Europe’s qualification course of finishes after this week’s European Masters in Switzerland, with Luke Donald naming his six captain’s picks on Monday, 4 September.

The Ryder Cup takes place at the Marco Simone Golf Club, close to Rome, from 29 September to 1 October.

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