To Viktor Go the Spoils – Hovland on a Heater and What It Means for Rome

Viktor Hovland is on a heater.

Our favorite Norwegian captured the FedEx Cup yesterday at East Lake in a Tiger-esque manner, firing at pins with long irons, bombing drives, and saving par with the flat stick whenever he needed to.

Hovi didn’t concede an inch to Xander Schauffele, who chased to within three at one point as Hovland stood over a 25-footer for par before he calmly rolled it in to stay bogey-free. A couple of birdies to finish was the icing on the cake – as well as collecting the $18 million prize for his efforts. That means $21.6 million in gross prize money in the last eight days. Huh. He is also 37 under par for his last eight rounds, with a -17 at the BMW and a Sunday 63 to ensure -20 at East Lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our attention now turns to the Ryder Cup in a month’s time. Hovland is probably Europe’s Number 1 guy – and you’d back him against anyone right now. After we watched Scottie Scheffler continue to miss putts inside three feet, it will be interesting to see who the US can put up against Hovland. My bet is Morikawa may be the best man to silence him, especially after their epic half last time around at Whistling Straits.

The US team room is a bit of a shambles, with everyone contributing their two cents as to whether Finau deserves a look-in, whether Koepka should be there, if DJ can make the cut if Lucas Glover has rolled back the years enough to deserve a seat – who do you pair with Wyndham Clark – and other questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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To be honest, those in the media care way more about Koepka’s presence on the plane than the players probably do, I think it is expected that Brooks is in Rome.

He almost played his way in two tournaments alone and is still a killer.

In terms of European pairings, I can see Rory and Hovi making an epic duo, but Rory is more of a team veteran now and may be responsible for looking after one of the newcomers in the European dressing room, a Sepp Straka sort of character might shape up well, just as Thomas Pieters did in 2016.

If Ludvig Aberg makes the team, we could see a Scandinavian partnership or stick him with an Englishman who can provide stability if Hovi brings the flair. Maybe even Matt Fitz or Tommy Fleetwood can accompany newly crowned FedEx Cup champion Viktor as he continues to take dead aim from anywhere.

Cover Image via SBNation