PGA Tour : Tour Championship Leaderboard
In 2008 when he was an 11 year old living in Oslo, Norway, Viktor's father Harald came home from working as an engineer in St Louis, where he'd taken up the game of golf, with a set of clubs for his skinny young son, and set about teaching him to play.
Norwegian champions abound in all forms of winter sports, skiing at the top of the list, and the game of football (soccer) is passionately followed by the masses.
Golf, not so much with the long Nordic winters. However Viktor had access to an indoor driving range and spent most of his spare time in 2008/09 practicing how to hit the ball correctly.
It's a long story but we fast forward, despite all the odds to becoming the first player from Norway to win the 2018 US Amateur, and the first Norwegian to play in the Masters in 2019.
He turned pro in 2019 after a storied career at Oklahoma State and established himself as one of the game's best ball strikers, a testament to all those hours indoors back in Oslo under the guidance of his father.
Now 25, 5'9" and 160lbs with 2 wins on the DP World Tour and 6 career wins on the PGA Tour, 3 this year, he is the Fed Ex Cup champion, ranked 5th in the world and an absolute legend back home.
Those who have followed me through my 25 year radio career as producer/host of the Fairways golf show on the Fan590 know how steadily I have followed/ reported on the European Tour, as I do today, and that's where I began touting this Norwegian phenom as an amateur winning the Eisenhower Trophy in 2016 as a 19year old.
In a month's time at the Ryder Cup in Italy, he along with Rory and big Jon Rahm will spearhead the Team Europe challenge against the overwhelming favourites form the USA, however this same David vs Goliath script is what has fueled the Europeans forever, and will again.
Tour Championship
1st Viktor Hovland 68 64 66 63 -27 ($18,000,000) FedEx Cup champion
25th Nick Taylor 71 67 69 72 -2 ($550,000)
26th Corey Conners 70 71 66 74 -1 ($540,000)
This ends the PGA Tour regular season with the NFL about to begin. However there are several Fall Series events before Christmas for those guys outside the top 125 who are trying to retain/gain there 2024 cards
Next
My attention switches to the DP World Tour where some great golf stories are about to unfold in the Race to Dubai.
After stops in Switzerland, then Ireland the next big events :
Sep 14-17 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth (Rolex Series $9,000,000)
Sep 29-Oct 1 Ryder Cup, Marco Simone GC, Rome Italy
Oct 5-8 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (Pro-am) St Andrews
Nov 9-12 Nedbank Golf Challenge, Sun City RSA, Gary Player GC.
Nov 16-19 DP World Tour Championship (Race to Dubai) Dubai, UAE
Thanks for reading my daily blogs, I will continue to post what interests me, it's my hobby these days, no longer get paid for my opinions, so please use my comments section and tell your pals.
Best regards,
Bryan Angus
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