Hovland’s win denies Morikawa No. 1 spot
The 24-year-old rising star put a nice ribbon on a three-win year in golf by posing with Tiger Woods at the trophy presentation Sunday in the Hero World Challenge at Nassau, Bahamas.
It just wasn’t the winner anyone imagined.
Not even Viktor Hovland thought it was realistic he could rally from six shots behind Cal alum Collin Morikawa, the steady hand who was poised to reach No. 1 in the world with a victory.
Instead, the Norwegian pulled off a comeback in a final round at Albany that was pure chaos.
He looked up from a greenside bunker on the ninth hole and saw Morikawa sliding fast with two double-bogeys. Hovland seized on the opportunity with back-to-back eagles and closed with two bogeys he could afford for a 6-under-par 66 and a one-shot victory.
“I didn’t think a win was going to be very possible,” Hovland said. “But I know this course is tricky . ... If I put a good score up there, you never know what’s going to happen.”
On the same hole Hovland holed a bunker shot for eagle, Sam Burns went from a tie for the lead to a triple-bogey when it took five shots to get up a slope from 15 yards away. Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson were penalized two shots for hitting shots off the 17th tee while playing the ninth hole. Scottie Scheffler was seven shots behind, made a triplebogey on his fourth hole and still nearly won.
The biggest surprise was Morikawa, who took a five-shot lead into the final round and wasn’t even a serious factor over the final hour. Two doublebogeys and a 41 on the front nine sent the 24-year-old to a 76, finishing four strokes back in a tie for fifth.
Morikawa, the British Open champion and first American to be No. 1 on the European Tour and engaged as of Tuesday, looked like he would breeze to a fourth win of the year in the Bahamas.
But he missed three birdie chances from 10 feet or closer at the start of the round and then went sideways when his approach on No. 4 sailed into a big bush and led to double-bogey, and the same thing happened — presumably with mud on the ball — at the par-5 sixth for another double-bogey. A chunked wedge on the par-5 ninth led to bogey.
Other tours:
Hideto Tanihara closed with a 1-under 69 to finish the double season on the Japan Golf Tour with a two-shot victory over Yusaku Miyazato in the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup in Tokyo . ... Daniel van Tonder birdied the par-5 closing hole for a 7-under 65 and a oneshot victory over hard-charging Oliver Bekker in the South African Open Championship.