It was Viktor Hovland’s week in Atlanta.
He is the 2023 FedExCup champion.
Threatening weather suspended the final round of the TOUR Championship for 113 minutes on Sunday. As the halt prolonged, the only reasonable curiosity was if the final round would be completed on Sunday, for the outcome presented as much of a foregone conclusion as foregone conclusions are concerned. Yet, with plenty of daylight to spare, the 17th edition of the FedExCup Playoffs would conclude as scheduled.
In posting 27 under at East Lake Golf Club, Hovland prevailed by five strokes. He opened the tournament with FedExCup Starting Strokes of 8 under, and then scored 19 under across the 72 holes of competition to gallop away with the victory.
Hovland won for the first time in the United States at the Memorial, had a multiple-win season, and then capped it off with two weeks of such sublime golf that he won the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields and the Tour Championship at 36-under par.
“It’s pretty surreal to be standing here right now,” Hovland said after receiving the silver FedEx Cup trophy. “I played basically my best golf the last two weeks and it couldn’t have happened at a better moment.”
Xander Schauffele (+2800) gave Hovland a mild scare on his inward nine on Sunday, but he settled for distant runner-up honors despite a field-best, 8-under 62 in the finale. He opened at 3 under and scored 19 under during the tournament to total 22-under.
In his TOUR Championship debut, Wyndham Clark (+5000) placed third, albeit 11 strokes back the champ. The U.S. Open champion opened at 4 under and scored 12 under in four rounds.
