Hovland repeats as Mayakoba champ
5th PGA Tour win is a three-shot triumph
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Viktor Hovland won again on the PGA Tour, this time without a clutch finish. The Norwegian star was too dominant to give anyone else a chance Sunday in the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba.
Hovland seized control with three birdies on the front nine, and never let Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas or anyone else get closer than three shots the rest of the way.
He closed with a 4-under 67 for a four-shot win over Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, making him the first repeat winner since Mayakoba began in 2007.
Hovland won last year with a birdie putt on the final hole for a one-shot victory. He also made birdie on his last hole when he won the Puerto Rico Open in the spring of 2020.
There was no need for that this time. For the final two hours, everyone was playing for second.
“I wish I could putt like I did today more often,” said Hovland, who made 28 birdies for the week at El Camaleon. “It was just a blast all week.”
Hovland finished at 23-under 261 and moved to No. 10 in the world ranking.
Ortiz made a 30-foot par putt after a plugged lie in the bunker on the 18th for a 66 to finish alone in second, a difference of $144,000 if he had two-putted for bogey and tied with Thomas, who shot 69.
Thomas had an early bogey and didn’t make as many birdies to make up a three-shot deficit on Hovland, especially the way Hovland was putting.
“I just didn’t drive it well, didn’t get off to a good enough start to really put any pressure on Viktor,” Thomas said.
The strongest challenge came from Scheffler, who starred on the final day in the Ryder Cup and is hopeful his first PGA Tour victory is around the corner. Sunday wasn’t the day.
Scheffler shot 66 and finished alone in fourth.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS: In Boca Raton, Fla., Steven Alker capped off an amazing three months by winning for the first time, closing with a 4-under 68 for a two-shot victory in the TimberTech Championship.
Alker turned 50 in late July and had to qualify for a chance to even play. He tied for seventh in his first event to earn a spot in the next tournament. Each week he kept finishing in the top 10 to advance. And now he’s going to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship next week.
Alker holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole to take the lead, and then finished with a birdie to win by two over Jim Furyk and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
EUROPEAN TOUR: In Vilamoura, Portugal, Thomas Pieters of Belgium closed with a 3-under 68 to win the Portugal Masters for his first European Tour victory since 2019.
Pieters, who played in 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, won for the fifth time on the European Tour, and his firs since the Czech Masters two years ago.
He finished at 19-under 265 at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, two shots ahead of Matthieu Pavon of France and Denmark’s Nicola Hojgaard and Lucas Bjerregaard.
OTHER TOURS: Lydia Ko closed with a 7-under 65 for a five-shot victory in the Aramco Saudi Ladies International on the Ladies European Tour.