A horror final round for Collin Morikawa allowed Viktor Hovland to grab the Hero World Challenge title, at the Albany Golf Course here on Sunday. Morikawa, who started the day with a five-shot lead, returned an abysmal four-over 76 to finish tied fifth. Morikawa could have become World No. 1 had he won the trophy.
Third title of the year
Havland, who won his third tournament of the year, surged ahead with eagles on the 14th and 15th holes. The Norwegian holed a bunker shot on the 14th, and made a long putt on the next to place one hand on the trophy. “When I first teed off, I didn’t think winning was even in question. But after I made three birdies in a row at the end of the front nine, I looked at the leaderboard and saw I was tied for the lead or maybe one shot behind. That’s when I knew that I had a chance if I played well,” Havland said.
Havland, 24, earned $1 million from a total purse of $3.5 million. He thanked former Norwegian pro Henrik Bjornstad for inspiring him to dream big.
“I took a lot of inspiration and motivation from Henry Bjornstad, Norway’s first player on the PGA Tour. I was lucky that he did some work for our federation when I was growing up. I was about 13 or 14 when I got to pick his brain a little bit. It’s not often that junior golfers in Norway get to speak with a PGA Tour pro,” Havland said.
Morikawa lost his way with double bogeys on the fourth and sixth holes.
The day started with a bizarre incident, when the first group comprising Henrik Stenson and Jordan Spieth were penalised two shots each for playing the wrong tee. They hit their tee shot from the 17th hole, believing it to be the ninth. The tee positions were reshuffled for the final round.
Both Stenson and Spieth saw the funny side of it at the media interaction. “They switched things around and put 17th on the ninth tee box today, and ninth was in a different place. Being first out, we didn’t pay attention and just motored along. It was only two shots each, so it wasn’t a big deal,” Stenson said.
The scores (top five): 270: Viktor Hovland (68, 69, 67, 66); 271: Scottie Scheffler (71, 68, 66, 66); 273: Sam Burns (71, 65, 68, 69), Patrick Reed (68, 69, 67, 69); 274: Justin Thomas (67, 72, 71, 64), Collin Morikawa (68, 66, 64, 76).
(The writer is in Nassau at the invitation of Hero MotoCorp)
