Viktor Hovland broke the PGA Tour’s “Puerto Rico Open Curse” with his win at the Mayakoba Golf Classic on Sunday.
Not only did Viktor Hovland earn his second PGA Tour win on Sunday, he also put to rest a curse that’s been haunting the Tour for more than a decade.
Earlier this year in February, Hovland won the Puerto Rico Open, an event that’s put a burden of sorts on its winners over the years. Players who won the Puerto Rico Open never went on to win another tournament on Tour, with one exception: Michael Bradley, who won the Puerto Rico Open in 2009 and again in 2011.
Tony Finau won in 2016 and has yet to win since, losing in two playoffs along the way. Alex Cejka, 2015’s champion, has lost in one playoff, same with 2013 winner Scott Brown, whose playoff loss was with Kevin Kisner against Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2017.
Whether you’re superstitious or just a little stitious like Michael Scott, Hovland’s win is good news for a handful of Tour pros. We’re not saying you’ll see Bradley, Brown, Cejka, Finau, Greg Kraft, Derek Lamely, George McNeill, Chesson Hadley, D.A. Points or Martin Trainer in the winner’s circle when the Tour returns in 2021, but don’t be so surprised if you do.
Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch discusses how there’s so much more to professional golf than the big names.
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The world’s best golfers were in Mexico City last week for the WGC-Mexico Championship.
If you wanted to see the real beauty of the game, you should have been watching the Puerto Rico Open.
Viktor Hovland has been touted as a future star on the PGA Tour for some time. He won the U.S. Amateur in 2018 and was the low-amateur at both the Masters and U.S. Open in 2019. In just his 17th start on Tour, the 22-year-old Hovland won in Puerto Rico with a clutch putt on the final hole, claiming victory by one stroke over journeyman Tour player Josh Teater.
Check out the latest edition of Eamon’s Corner at the top of the page.
Where will Tiger Woods play next? What does Rory McIlroy think of the Premier Golf League? JuliaKate Culpepper discusses on Golfweek Rewind.
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Tiger Woods reveals if he’ll play in the Honda Classic, Rory McIlroy shares his opinion on the Premier Golf League and we remember Mickey Wright after her death.
Take a look at the week’s top stories on the latest episode of Golfweek Rewind.
Top stories
Tiger Woods is skipping the Honda Classic, marking the second-straight week the 15-time major champion won’t compete. Woods also did not play in the WGC-Mexico Championship, citing back stiffness that bothered him throughout the Genesis Invitational. It is unknown what events Woods will play before the Masters Tournament in April.
Rory McIlroy isn’t sold on the Premiere Golf League. Ahead of the WGC-Mexico Championship, McIlroy revealed he has thought about the proposed golf league, but doesn’t like it. The league, in early planning stages, would rival the PGA and European Tours and boasts a season of 18 events across the globe and $10 million purses at each stop.
PGA:Patrick Reed won the WGC- Mexico Championship by one stroke and Viktor Hovland earned his first PGA Tour win at the Puerto Rico Open. Next up is the Honda Classic which begins Thursday at PGA National.
Euro Tour: Top European Tour players joined PGA Tour players at the WGC- Mexico Championship. The next stop on the European Tour is the Oman Open in Muscat, Oman, which begins Thursday.
LPGA: After the LPGA’s three-event Asia swing was canceled due to concerns over coronavirus, the next LGPA event is the Volvik Founders Cup in Phoenix, Arizona, beginning March 19.
More information on these top stories can be found in the latest edition of Golfweek Rewind, featured above.
Check out how much each golfer won this weekend at the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open.
Welcome to the winner’s circle, Viktor Hovland.
The former Oklahoma State standout, 2018 U.S. Amateur champion and current PGA Tour rookie earned his first win on Tour on Sunday, canning a 30-foot putt on the 18th green during Sunday’s final round of the Puerto Rico Open to win by one shot.
Hovland joins rising stars on Tour Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff, who both earned their first wins late in 2019.
Josh Teater finished second at 19 under, followed by Kyle Stanley, Sam Ryder and Emiliano Grillo, who were all T-3 at 15 under.
The golf equipment Viktor Hovland used to win the PGA Tour’s 2020 Puerto Rico Open: DRIVER: Ping G410 LST (9 degrees), with Project X HZRDUS Black 62 shaft FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade M5 (15 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei AV shaft IRONS: Callaway X …
The golf equipment Viktor Hovland used to win the PGA Tour’s 2020 Puerto Rico Open:
DRIVER: Ping G410 LST (9 degrees), with Project X HZRDUS Black 62 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade M5 (15 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei AV shaft
IRONS: Callaway X Forged (2), with Graphite Design Tour AD DI shaft; Ping i210 (4-PW), with KBS Tour-V X shafts
WEDGES: Ping Glide 3.0 (50, 56, 60 degrees), with KBS Tour-V X shafts
After an illustrious amateur career, Viktor Hovland hasn’t wasted any time living up to the hype.
After an illustrious amateur career, Viktor Hovland hasn’t wasted any time living up to the hype. In just his 17th PGA Tour start, Hovland notched his first victory, drilling a 30-foot birdie at the 72nd hole to edge Josh Teater by one stroke and win the Puerto Rico Open. Was it excitement or relief to win after a wild day, he was asked?
“It’s excitement, for sure,” said Hovland, the 2018 U.S. Amateur champion, who finished at 20-under 268 at Grand Reserve Country Club. “It’s incredible. It’s a special feeling.”
For much of the final round, Hovland didn’t have his best stuff, which produced a sizzling 8-under 64 on Saturday and his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour. He skated along with all pars on the front nine except for a birdie at the fifth.
Teater, the 40-year-old journeyman, was seeking his first victory, too, and he caught Hovland for a moment with three birdies in his first six holes, but gave two strokes back with bogeys at Nos. 10 and 11. When Hovland’s second shot at No. 10 sailed long, he chipped in for a birdie and a three-stroke lead. It looked like the Norwegian, who was part of a national championship-winning team at Oklahoma State, the low amateur at the 2019 Masters and U.S. Open and a former No. 1-ranked amateur, would be able to cruise to his maiden victory.
Not so fast.
At the par-3 11th, Hovland missed badly to the right with his tee shot. He duffed his pitch from a tight lie and compounded his error by decelerating on the next and missed a 5-footer. It added up to a triple bogey and his lead had evaporated.
“I just suck at chipping,” Hovland told Golf Channel after the round through laughter. “I was 100% exposed there.”
Hovland slipped into a three-way tie with Teater and Kyle Stanley, who birdied five of the first six holes to get into the mix. But Stanley made bogeys coming home at the two par 5s – Nos. 15 and 18 – and closed in 68 to share third with Emiliano Grillo and Sam Ryder.
Viktor Hovland and his caddie Shay Knight at the 2020 Puerto Rico Open. Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Teater was the only player to take advantage of Hovland’s generosity. He reached the 15th in two and made birdie to take a one-stroke at 18 under. But it didn’t last long. Hovland, playing one group behind, came up short to the right with his second at 15.
Just as a rainstorm arrived, Hovland’s short game didn’t let him down this time. He pitched in for eagle, pumping his fist and flashing a wide smile. He regained the lead at 19 under. Teater responded by rolling in a 12-foot birdie putt at 17, but his 15-foot birdie putt at 18 came up inches short. He tapped in for a 3-under 69, and his fourth straight round in the 60s.
“I knew it was going to be slower because of the rain but, I had it right on lie,” Teater said. “It was a great week for me.”
It turned out Teater’s great week wasn’t good enough. He heard through a walkie-talkie that Hovland had sunk his birdie putt for a closing 2-under 70 before Teater could see it on the screen where he was watching.
“Hats off to Viktor. That was a great putt,” Teater said. “He’s a great player and we’re going to see him do that a lot more often.”
Hovland joins an elite group of players who since 2014 posted their first tour victory at the age of 22, after Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Hideki Matsuyama.
Viktor Hovland holds a one-shot lead at the Puerto Rico Open entering the event’s final round at Coco Beach Golf & Country Club.
Viktor Hovland shot 8-under 64 during the third round of the Puerto Rico Open to take the solo lead entering the final round.
Hovland, who was one of four co-leaders to start the round at Coco Beach Golf & Country Club, finished Sautrday with a clean scorecard. The 22-year-old’s round featured five birdies on the back nine, including three of the final four holes.
Hovland leads Martin Laird, who fired 63, by one shot entering the final round. Josh Teater is in third at 16 under and Emiliano Grillo sits in fourth at 13 under.
Grillo, Teater and first-round leader Kyle Stanley shared the lead with Hovland after 36 holes at 10 under. Stanley tumbled to T-7 at 11 under Saturday along with four other golfers after shooting a 71. Eight others sit T-12 at 10 under.
Hovland, from Norway, and Laird, from Scotland, are paired in the last group of the Puerto Rico Open’s final round. Their pairing marks only the second all-international final grouping of the season after Sebastian Munoz and Carlos Ortiz were paired for the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship. Hovland is seeking his first PGA Tour title while Laird is chasing his fourth Tour title and looking to return to the winner’s circle for the first time since the 2013 Valero Texas Open.
Final-round television coverage of the Puerto Rico Open begins Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.
Kyle Stanley and Viktor Hovland are two of four golfers tied for the lead after 36 holes at the Puerto Rico Open.
Some say it’s lonely at the top, but that’s not currently the case in Puerto Rico.
Emiliano Grillo, Viktor Hovland and Josh Teater joined first-round leader Kyle Stanley at 10 under Friday to split the 36-hole lead at the Puerto Rico Open.
Stanley, who shot a first-round 64 and held the solo lead entering the second round at Coco Beach Golf & Country Club, finished Friday with a 70. Grillo and Teater each shot 68s while Hovland posted the low score for the day among the leaders with a 6-under 66.
After a first-round 68, Hovland got hot quickly on Friday. The 22-year-old was 5 under on the front nine— the best front nine score of his professional career so far— after carding an eagle on No. 2 and birdies on 4, 8 and 9. He was 6 under on the round after a fourth birdie on 11, but notched his sole bogey of the day on 15. The former Oklahoma State golfer recorded his fifth birdie of the day on 17 to share the lead. Hovland entered the day T-14 at 4 under.
Kyle Stanley made birdie on four of his opening five holes on Thursday to take an early two-shot lead at the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open.
Kyle Stanley started hot and cruised to the top of the leaderboard on Thursday in Puerto Rico.
The 32-year-old made birdie on four of his opening five holes and played the back nine at Grand Reserve Country Club bogey-free, carding an 8-under 64. Stanley holds a two-shot lead after the first round of the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open, an alternate event for players who didn’t qualify for this week’s World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship.
Stanley seeks his third PGA Tour win, with the last one coming at the 2017 Quicken Loans National.
Peter Uihlein, Josh Teater, Emiliano Grillo, Chris Couch, Henrik Norlander and Rhein Gibson are all T-2 at 6 under.
A young, rising star on Tour, Viktor Hovland sits T-14 at 4 under, as does three-time PGA Tour winner Jhonattan Vegas. Defending champion Martin Trainer is 2 over, T-93.
