The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Hovland on record run, matches Estes
Viktor Hovland tied the PGA Tour record on Sunday at The Greenbrier with his 17th consecutive round in the 60s, closing with a 64 to tie for 10th. He matched the mark set by Bob Estes in the fall of 2001, and it could shed some light on how much golf at the highest level has changed in two decades.
Both had every round in the 60s at four straight tournaments. Hovland’s streak started with a 64 in the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, while Estes’ streak ended with a 63 in the final round at Las Vegas when it was a fiveround tournament.
Estes had a scoring average of 67.29 during his streak. His worst finish was a tie for eighth in the Air Canada Championship. He was a runner-up in the Canadian Open to Scott Verplank (two days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks), tied for third at the Texas Open and won Las Vegas.
In the three events he did not win, Estes finished a combined 18 shots out of the lead.
Hovland’s scoring average in his streak is 66.59, nearly three-quarters of a shot lower. However, his best finish during his streak was a tie for fourth in the Wyndham Championship. He tied for 13th in the 3M Open in Minnesota and tied for 16th in the John Deere Classic. He finished a combined 25 shots out of the lead.
It could be another illustration that low scores don’t go as far as they used to.Hovland, who is playing the European Tour this week, was surprised that the streak wasn’t longer. He also isn’t sure how much longer his can last.
“I turned pro out of school in the summer, and I don’t know how the other golf courses we play out there for the other half of the season, but we’ve been playing courses that have been pretty gettable — not a whole lot of wind and greens have been fairly soft.”
Then again, no one else in those four tournaments has put together a streak like this.
“I’ve just played pretty consistently,” he said. “So yeah, it’s been a pretty cool ride.”
GLOBAL GAME
Joaquin Niemann won A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier to become the first player from Chile to win on the PGA Tour and reach No. 50 in the world.
That wasn’t the only country to celebrate a breakthrough last week.
Adrian Meronk birdied two of his last three holes in Portugal for a two-shot victory, making the 26year-old the first player from Poland to win on the Challenge Tour. He moved to No. 7 on the Road to Mallorca, leaving him in good shape over the final six events to become the first Polish player to join the European Tour.
“I couldn’t be prouder of myself for being the first Polish winner on the Challenge Tour,” he said. “I’ve been getting a lot of messages from friends back home … I’ve been pretty consistent this year and I’ve been playing well, especially at the start of the season, but I just couldn’t finish it off. That’s why I’m very relieved right now because it’s finally happened.”
Meronk now is No. 263 in the world ranking. Only one other Polish player, Mateusz Gradecki, has earned ranking points this year. Gradecki, who won on the Pro Golf Tour last year, has made three out of 14 cuts on the Challenge Tour in 2019. He is at No. 691.
Rory Hie became the first player from Indonesia to win on the Asian Tour, going wire-to-wire in the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship in India.
TIGER ODDS
Bettors don’t have as much faith in Tiger Woods as they did in April.
Right after Woods won the Masters for the fifth time — his 15th major — Westgate Superbook listed him as the 8-1 favorite to win at Augusta National in 2020. Five months later, Woods was listed at 16-1, with Brooks Koepka (9-1) and Rory McIlroy (10-1) the leading favorites.
Woods missed the cut at the PGA Championship and British Open, tied for 21st in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and did not reach the Tour Championship.
Westgate Superbook also listed him at 2-1 that he would win more than 15 majors on the night after he won the Masters. This week, the odds were 3-1.