PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Viktor Hovland won the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship on Sunday, and he has no idea how it happened.
His swing is so out of sorts that Hovland has gone through five coaches since he won the FedEx Cup in 2023. He had gone eight months without making a 36-hole cut against a full field and felt so lost he wasn’t even sure he was going to play this tournament.
And then he delivered one world-class shot after another, none more impressive than a 7-iron from 186 yards over a bunker to five feet on No. 16, the toughest hole on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort.
Three shots behind with five to play, the 27-year-old Norwegian rallied with three birdies to pass two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas and close with a 4-under 67 for a one-stroke victory at 11-under 273 in the 72-hole tournament.
Jacob Bridgeman, who started with a three-way share of the lead, needed to hole out from the fairway on the 18th to force a playoff. He wound up with a par and finished third at 9 under after his 66.
“It’s been quite the struggle the past year and a half, so for me to come back and win this tournament is quite incredible,” Hovland said. “I was not very hopeful with my game leading into this week. Just goes to show this game is pretty crazy.
“Wasn’t sure I was going to show up, but I’m glad I did.”
He didn’t leave satisfied that his game was back in order. There are still too many errant shots, too many times he feels the club is out of position, and he has to find a fix on the way down.
Still, he found a swing that worked on the toughest stretch of Innisbrook.
“I honestly did not believe I could do it this week,” Hovland said.
It looked bleak even after Hovland and Thomas finally separated from the pack during a final round so tight that nine players had at least a share of the lead at some point.
Hovland was three shots behind Thomas when the Norwegian holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 14th to start his amazing run. He hit a 7-iron shot at a tucked pin on the 16th hole to five feet for the birdie that tied him for the lead.
And then he took dead aim to a back pin on the par-3 17th to 12 feet for another birdie, which turned into a two-shot cushion when Thomas faltered late.
The 31-year-old American made it a little easier on Hovland. He made four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine and was ahead by three when he walked off the 15th green. But he chose driver on the 16th and hit that into the trees, leaving him no choice but to chip out to the fairway. Thomas had to get up and down from a bunker to escape with a bogey.
Hovland caught him with his birdie on the 16th, and Thomas was in trouble on the 18th with a drive into deep rough on the left that led to bogey. He was 7 under through 15 holes but had to settle for a 66.
Hovland played it safe on the 18th with a two-shot lead, and his bogey only determined the final margin. His seventh career victory — it moves him back into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking — is one he didn’t see coming.
AP photo by Chris O’Meara / Viktor Hovland tees off on the third hole of the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort during Sunday’s final round of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla.Hovland spoke openly about the frustrations of his supreme ball-striking becoming a liability. He missed three straight cuts coming into the Valspar Championship, including at The Players Championship a week earlier when he opened with an 80. Hovland’s last made cut against a full field was the Scottish Open last summer.
So what happened?
“I’ve got no idea,” he said with a laugh when his victory was secure.
“I hit a lot of disgusting shots, but they happened to go where I looked,” Hovland added. “Somehow I was able to hit the good shots I can a lot more often.”
There were only great shots down the stretch. Before the birdies on 16 and 17, Hovland chose to lay up on the 14th — he went for the green in two on Saturday and made a bogey — and had to rely on a 12-foot, slippery birdie putt to have any chance.
Thomas was left to wonder what went wrong. He always hits driver on the 16th and figured the worse he could make was 5. He quickly realized Hovland did plenty of good.
“I’ve had plenty of chances this season, but nothing quite like that,” said Thomas, whose most recent victory was the 2022 PGA Championship.
“I felt so good out there, so excited for every shot. Hell, there’s not much I can do. He birdied 16 and 17. I obviously made it a lot easier. It’s really hard — but really fun — trying to win golf tournaments.”
Bud Cauley (66), Billy Horschel (67) and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune (68) tied for fourth.
Horschel delivered the most incredible shot at Innisbrook when his ball settled up against a tree on the par-5 fifth hole. He inverted a 9-iron and swung left-handed, hitting it 117 yards onto the putting surface and converting the birdie chance from just outside 30 feet.
The trio of Baylor School graduates in the tournament were well down the final leaderboard: Stephan Jaeger (72) tied for 36th at 1 under, Keith Mitchell (72) tied for 54th at 2 over and Luke List (75) tied for 64th at 4 over.
AP photo by Chris O’Meara / Justin Thomas reacts after his putt on the 16th hole of the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort during Sunday’s final round of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla.Jimenez clutch late
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Miguel Angel Jimenez became the first winner of multiple tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions this year when he chipped to within a foot for a birdie on the par-5 18th, closing out a 4-under 67 and a one-shot victory in the Hoag Classic.
Jimenez finished at 15-under 198 in the 54-hole tournament at Newport Beach Country Club.
The 61-year-old Spaniard also won the Trophy Hassan II in Morocco in February, taking that tournament by two strokes.
This one came down to the wire. Jimenez and Sweden’s Freddie Jacobsen were tied at 14 under through 17 holes Sunday, with American player Stewart Cink having just birdied the 18th ahead of them for a 65 to join the co-leaders.
Jacobsen missed well to the right and was unable to get up and down for a birdie. Jimenez came up just short of the green, leaving him a simple chip that he executed perfectly. Jacobsen missed his 25-foot birdie putt and shot a 67 to share second place with Cink.
Fred Couples, who started the final round tied for the lead with Jimenez, managed just one birdie Sunday and shot a 71 to tie for eighth, four shots behind.
AP file photo by Charlie Neibergall / Miguel Angel Jiménez won Sunday at the Hoag Classic for his second PGA Tour Champions victory of the season.Mansell’s first win
SINGAPORE — Richard Mansell earned his first DP World Tour victory when he two-putted from some 100 feet for a birdie on the final hole of the Singapore Classic, posting a 6-under 66 for a one-shot victory.
Mansell, who started the final round one shot behind, ran off five straight birdies on the front nine to take the lead. The 29-year-old Englishman’s final birdie gave him the victory over Japan’s Keita Nakajima, who closed with a 65.
The tournament was reduced to 54 holes because of rain that washed out play Thursday. Mansell finished at 16-under 200.
Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin, who gave up a PGA Tour card this year to join the LIV Golf League, had a 68 and tied for third with France’s Adrien Saddier (68).
British invitations
MACAU, China — Carlos Ortiz made two early birdies and pulled away for a 6-under 64 and a three-shot victory over American player Patrick Reed in the International Series Macau, the 33-year-old Mexican’s second Asian Tour win since leaving the PGA Tour for the LIV Golf League in June 2022.
Ortiz, who has one LIV career win, also won the International Series Oman a year ago. He finished 72 holes at Macau Golf and Country Club at 22-under 258 and earned $360,000.
Ortiz, Reed and American player Jason Kokrak — all of whom compete on the LIV circuit — were the top three players and earned spots in the British Open this summer. It will be the first major tournament for Ortiz in two years.
Spain’s Sergio Garcia finished fourth, one shot away from getting one of the International Finals Qualifying exemptions to the British Open.