Hovland lights up Olympia Fields

Before huge Chicago crowds, Viktor Hovland won the BMW Championship with one of the best-ever performances in the final round of a PGA Tour event. The Norwegian carded seven birdies on the back nine on his way to a course record of 61 (-9), which included a back nine score of 28 🔥🔥🔥. Hovland came home like a freight train to overrun a stacked leaderboard which included the likes of Scotty Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Brian Harman, Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick (all Major winners and proven big-time players). The win is Hovland’s 5th on the PGAT and moves him into 2nd position in the FedEx Cup standings going into the final event of the season this weekend at East Lake, Atlanta.

The Olympia Fields course, which hosted this year’s BMW Championship, is a world class venue having hosted prior US Opens, US PGAs and the US Amateur. So big things were expected from the course. Unfortunately, due to plenty of rain, the course didn’t play firm and fast, which would have provided a better test for the players. However, Hovland took advantage of the soft conditions, firing at pins and making putts on the back nine to clinch the title. Scheffler held a 2 shot lead coming down the stretch, but Hovland birdied 4 of his last 5 holes to take victory by 2 shots in the end. Scheffler, Fitzpatrick and McIlroy all shot final rounds of 66 (-4), but those scores proved inadequate as Hovland lit up Olympia Fields.

Elsewhere, Daniel Brown secured a maiden DP World Tour title with an impressive five-shot victory at the ISPS Handa World Invitational. Brown overcame an early wobble and mid-round bogey run to post a one-under 69 at Galgorm Castle, one of two courses used at an event sanctioned by the DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour, to end the week on 15 under. Alex Fitzpatrick claimed second spot on 10 under ahead of Eddie Pepperell, who finished eight strokes back, while Alexa Pano - on her 19th birthday - snatched the women’s title after a dramatic play-off victory on the third extra hole.

It’s off to the Tour Championship for the Top 30

This week will see the PGAT season-ending Tour Championship played at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Only the Top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings qualify for the event, and the tournament will also determine the overall winner of the FedEx Cup, who stands to win $18m for taking out the PGAT’s flagship prize. Jason Day will be the only Aussie teeing it up at the Tour Championship.

Scheffler heads to East Lake ranked No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings for the second straight year – the first time that has occurred. In The Shank Show’s humble opinion, this is possibly the worst event format in world golf, which sees players handicapped with a set amount of strokes based on their current FedEx Cup rank. The PGAT calls these last 3 events of the season the “Playoffs”. If your team makes a playoff or grand final game, they don’t start ahead or behind when the game commences. So why is golf different? By having the handicapped start for the Tour Championship, it effectively means that only the Top 5 players going into East Lake have a realistic chance of winning. It would be a far more compelling event if any one of the Top 30 could win and each of them started from even par on Thursday.

Adding to our frustration is the location of the final event of the season. Don’t get us wrong, East Lake Golf Club is no chump course (like some of the TPC stops the PGAT force on players and fans) having been redesigned by Donald Ross and was the home course of the legendary golfer Bobby Jones (who helped design Augusta National and co-founded The Masters). But why wouldn’t this event be played at a top shelf venue like Shinnecock, Oakmont or Pinehurst? We’ll tell you why - the major sponsor of the Tour Championship is Coca-Cola, which just happens to be headquartered in Atlanta, where East Lake Golf Club is located. It is a great example of how the PGAT has become captive to its sponsors, which means they actually aren’t able to create and deliver the best golfing product possible due to sponsor demands and restrictions. It’s such a shame and one of the reasons why LIV has gained traction.

Regardless, we’ll be tuning in to watch. There definitely will be some great golf played, and we are backing Viktor to win the big one!

Quick Bites

US Ryder Cup Dilemmas - Brooks Koepka has dropped out of the top six automatic picks for the Ryder Cup team following Max Homa’s strong finish at the BMW Championship. The top six players (based on ranking points) automatically qualify for the team. Yet, U.S. Captain Zach Johnson sent a message to LIV golfers while appearing on the ‘Subpar’ podcast. “There hasn’t been much communication” Johnson said to hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. “I’m gonna be fully transparent. It’s hard because I’m not able to witness what they’re doing and see their form, with the exception of four events a year. What Brooks has done this year, well no one’s surprised. I’m just glad he’s healthy”. It will be very interesting to see what the final make-up of the US team looks like. But at this stage, LIV hopefuls such as Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson Dechambeau and Talor Gooch probably shouldn’t be waiting for the phone to ring. 

OCM redesign of Medinah - Medinah Country Club has approved a master plan by Geoff Ogilvy’s Australian OCM team to perform a full-scale renovation of its No. 3 course. The project, which includes the creation of three new holes in addition to work on the entire routing, is budgeted at $23.5 million. The renovation, led by Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking, and Ashley Mead, has already kicked off and is due to finish by the US summer of 2024. You might remember the Euro Team’s historical “Miracle in Medinah” Ryder Cup Victory. If not, take a look at this video for a refresh.

Schedule for the Week

Your golfing schedule for the week, and how to watch is below:

• PGAT: The Tour Championship - East Lake Golf Club (Atlanta, GA), $75m bonus pool, Friday 25/8 to Monday 28/8 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 3am Friday.

• Asian Tour: St Andrews Bay Championship - Fairmont St Andrews (Scotland), $1.5m purse, Thursday 24/8 to Sunday 27/8 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 11pm Thursday.

• LPGA: Canadian Women's Open - Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club (Vancouver), $2.5m purse, Friday 25/8 to Monday 28/8 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 8.30am Friday.

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The lucky winner will receive a $50 Drummond Golf gift voucher and will be chosen randomly from the eligible entries on Wednesday 30 August 2023.

We’ll be back next week with our debrief of the Tour Championship, but we leave you with our “Shank of the Week” - what a superb bunker shot from Joachim B. Hansen.