Palm Harbor, Fla. – Viktor Hovland found a swing at Innisbrook’s tough closing ceremony Sunday, sending the three nights of the Birds assembled 67s under Justin Thomas to a win in the Valspar Championship.
Hovland has changed five more times since last won the 2023 FedEx Cup at East Lake. He is not sure about his shooting percentage. When he arrived at Innisbrook, the frustration was as great as ever, thinking he had no chance to win.
“I honestly don’t believe I can do this week,” he said.
Even in the final round, Hofland and Thomas were finally separated from the backpack, so much so that nine players had at least a portion of the lead at some point.
Hovland started his amazing run when he got a 12-foot birdie putt on Thomas 14. He hit seven irons on a plug on the 16th hole, the toughest hole in the copperhead route – the bird tied him up at 5 feet.
He then aimed the aiming agent behind the third shot 17 to 12 feet, and when Thomas staggered, he turned into a two-shot pad.
Thomas made Hovland easier. He stretched out four birdies on the five holes in the back nine, and when he stepped out of the 15th green, he took three birdies. But he chose the driver on the 16th and then knocked it into the tree, with no choice but to throw it on the fairway. Thomas had to get up from the bunker and escape with bogey.
Hovland caught his bird with him on the 16th, and Thomas got into trouble on the 18th, heading to the left toward the left and heading towards a bogey. He was 7 years old in seven of 15 holes, but had to settle 66.
Hovland played safely with two shots on the 18th, and his jealousy only determines the final profit. He ended with a seventh career victory with a score of 273, which brought him back to the top ten in the world.
He probably didn’t see this.
Hofland spoke openly about the frustration of his highest hitting became a responsibility. He missed the three-game winning streak of the Valspar title, including the first round player championship a week ago. Hovland hasn’t made 36 hole cuts throughout the field since the Scottish Open last summer.
So, what happened?
“I don’t know,” he said with a smile as his victory secured.
Jacob Bridgeman started with a leading tee share and needed to kick out of the fairway on the 18th to force the playoffs. He finished third with par.
“I played a lot of disgusting shots, but they happened to go where I looked,” Hofland said. “I was able to play very often.”
There are only great shots for stretching. Hovland chose to lie down on the 14th – he went on the green on Saturday, forcing Bogey to rely on a 12-foot-tall slippery birdie putt to get a chance. That’s a big deal.
The 16th pin returned to the right, protected in front and right, and his shot never left a flag. Then there was a shot and the birdie putt on the 17th.
Thomas wants to know what went wrong. He always hit the driver on the 16th and thought he could do a bad number of 5. He quickly realized that Hofland was doing well.
“I have a lot of opportunities this season, but nothing like this.” Thomas’ last win was the 2022 PGA champion.
“I feel good there and every shot is excited,” he said. “Hell, there’s nothing I can do. His 16 and 17 birdies. I obviously made it a lot easier. It’s really hard – but it’s really fun – trying to win a golf game.”
Bud Cauley (66), Billy Horschel (67) and Ryo Hisatsune (68) tied for fourth place. Horschel fired the most incredible shot at Innisbrook as his ball leaned against a tree on the fifth hole of the 5th. He poured nine iron heads, waved his left hand, hit him for 117 yards and converted the birdie putt from 30 feet outside.
“It’s interesting that my little boy sat down at the cart path around 50 yards in front of me and I had to yell because I didn’t know where this could go,” Horschel said. “The last thing I needed to do was call my wife and tell her I just hit my son with a golf ball.
“Listen, it’s a shot that I took it off and made a putt…I mean, something interesting happened.”
