Special Schauffele turns up heat but Hovland has learned to hedge his bets

Viktor Hovland couldn’t be denied at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 27: Viktor Hovland of Norway is congratulated by Xander Schauffele of the United States on the 18th green after Hovland won during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 27, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Xander Schauffele knew he had to throw up something special on Sunday to have any chance. An 8-under 62 would normally qualify as special.

Viktor Hovland never flinched and couldn’t be denied at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

Hovland dismissed Schauffele’s challenge with a 63 of his own, making no bogeys to open the door before finishing with three birdies to post a five-shot victory and collect the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup title and US $18 million bonus. He sealed the deal with consecutive victories to cap the PGA Tour season.

“I thought 62 would have let me get close to him, but I think the closest I got to was three shots back,” Schauffele said. “He played unbelievably well. He made important putts, and he's just played like a champ.” 

Hovland started the week in second place and began at 8-under, two shots behind world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and five shots ahead of Schauffele. They each played the course in field-leading 19-under par.

“It's fun when every single part of your game comes together for two weeks straight,” Hovland said. “I mean, that just doesn't happen all that often.” 

Starting Sunday with a six-shot lead that increased to seven after one hole, Hovland hoped a simple fairways-and-greens strategy would be good enough to hold off any challengers. “My strategy was to play very boring golf – just trying to play like Tiger back in the day when he would post the 69 or a 70 in a major championship and walk away with a victory,” Hovland said.

“Xander changed that strategy pretty quickly.” 

Schauffele changed it by firing a front-nine 30, but Hovland countered with a 31 of his own making birdies on four of the first six holes.

Schauffele wasn’t done, however, making birdies at 11 and 12 to cut the gap to a manageable three shots. It looked about to get even tighter on 14, when Hovland faced a 23-footer for par. But the 25-year-old Norwegian calmly buried the longest putt he’d made all week to save his par.

“I think I was 4-under through 6, 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 he 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.” 

Schauffele could only be impressed.

“I'll hold my head up high. It was the most fun I had losing in quite some time,” he said. “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.”

Hovland has developed into a complete player over the year, learning how to better manage the aggressive tendencies in his game to avoid the big numbers that have derailed him in the past. He’s been teasing this kind of next-level excellence all season with consistent success on the game’s major stages all season – T3 in the Players, T7 in the Masters, runner-up at the PGA, 19th at the U.S. Open and T13 at the Open. But he emerged as a man in full these last two weeks.

Using statistical analysis presented to him by European analytical guru Edouardo Molinari and urging from his long-time coach Joseph Mayo to apply some changes, Hovland has substantially improved his short-game inefficiencies.

“I would have a double bogey here or a double bogey there and it would just kind of mess up the whole tournament for me, or it would get me out of contention,” Hovland said.

Mayo presented the problem in terms Hovland could understand – using poker terms.

“There's a certain percentage of the time you’re supposed to bet, you’re supposed to check raise, or you’re supposed to bluff,” Hovland said. “And basically there’s a certain percentage you’re supposed to short-side yourself (on the golf course). But basically, I was doing that way more than the average player.” 

Hovland becomes just the third non-American player in at least 40 years to win three PGA Tour events in the same season at age 25 or younger. Rory McIlroy did it twice (2012 and ’14) and Hideki Matsuyama once (2017).

He now has all the tools – and the hardware – to be included in the fraternity of the best players in the game.

“I've just gotten better and better every single year, and with that comes the belief and I feel like the belief was the last missing piece,” Hovland said.