Norway’s Viktor Hovland lines up a putt on day two of the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta on Friday. Image courtesy pgatour.com.
By Rahul Banerji
Two late birdies gave overnight co-leader Viktor Hovland a little gap from the field at the $40 million Tour Championship in Atlanta on Saturday.
The genial Norwegian needed six tense putts — four of them for birdies — towards the end of his round to card 5 under par 65 for a 54-hole total of 15 under 135, ahead of tournament debutant and overnight joint leader Ryan Gerard (66) on 14 under 136.
“It’s pretty bunched up around 11- and 12-under par there,” Hovland said at the East Lake Golf Club later.
“I mean, you’ve seen some 62s out there. You can take it low. So it was nice to get a little bit of distance, especially from the group of guys that are around that number.
“They’re capable of shooting nothing tomorrow. So that gives me a little bit of a cushion for tomorrow. I’m still going to have to bring a nice, solid round.”
Hot putter
The 2023 winner’s putter went hot especially over the home stretch. He converted from 11 feet for birdie on 13, from 18 feet to save par on 14, 11 feet for birdie on 15, a seven-foot par putt on 16 besides the closing birdies.
Four players shared third place behind Hovland in including Scottie Scheffler (66), sentimental favourite Adam Scott (65) of Australia, Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (65) and Chris Gotterup (67) at 12 under 198.
“It’s a good spot – within striking distance,” 2020 winner Scott felt. “It’s so congested, though, it’s going to need a really great round. I think there’s someone lurking who’s going to have that.”
Also making a move in the right direction was Rory McIlroy, who had a difficult second day and started with two bogeys but still shot a 63 to sit five shots behind in tied seventh alongside Cameron Young, whose double bogey on hole 10 gave him a round of 68.
“I just left myself in better spots on the greens,” said McIlroy after Saturday’s run that saw him start seven shots off the lead.
“I gave myself easier putts, putts that didn’t break two ways. When I got it rolling there on the back nine, every putt was like a cup right or a cup left.
Good try
“It’s the last round of the PGA Tour season. I’ve still got a lot of golf left this year, but it will be nice to go out and give it a really good run tomorrow to finish this season over in the States.”
Scheffler was another to return a bogey-free card and felt he had missed out on a few birdie opportunities.
Regardless of the final outcome, the world number one will replace Tiger Woods ($120,999,166) on the career money list as he is currently on $120,390,661while McIlroy is third at $117,848,372
Up for grabs on Sunday is $10 million to the winner, the largest official payoff in golf for a single tournament, and the FedEx Cup title that comes with a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour.
Also read: Hovland in shared Tour Championship lead after second day
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