Viktor Hovland has compiled a remarkable list of achievements in his short career. The 25-year-old Norwegian can now add perhaps his greatest achievement to his resume by returning to El Camaleon Golf Course this week for the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Only three players have won the same tournament three times in the last 40 years on the PGA TOUR. Tiger Woods has won it in six events, including two “four-peats”, while Steve Stricker (2009-11) was the last to do it. Stuart Appleby, at the Sentry Tournament of Champions (2004)-06 was the other player to achieve this feat. Hovland, the El Camaleon champion, is the second-time defending champion. This week will be the 13th attempt at the three-peat by a player since Stricker’s win at the John Deere classic in 2011. Hovland will be the first of five players to have a chance at three consecutive wins in the 2022/23 PGA TOUR season. Sam Burns (Valspar Championship), K.H. Lee (AT&T Byron Nelson), Rory McIlroy(RBC Canadian Open), and Patrick Cantlay [BMW Championship] all successfully defended titles between 2021-22. Hovland is already one of the most skilled ball-strikers around the globe. His talent will only grow in the years ahead. Let’s take a look at some numbers: *After winning 2018 U.S. Open, Hovland shot a 72-hole total score of 280. Hovland started his career as an amateur at Pebble Beach. He returned to Pebble in the summer of 2018 for the U.S. Open. There, he shot a total score of 280 over 72 holes, breaking Jack Nicklaus’s 1960 amateur record (282 at Cherry Hills). Hovland shot 67 on Sunday, which was the lowest score of an amateur at the U.S. Open since Deane Beman’s score of 67 at Oakmont back in 1962. *Hovland is an elite player off the tee as well as with his irons. This rare combination is extremely potent. Only three players qualified to play on the PGA TOUR have gained at least half a stroke per round since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. They are Rory McIlroy and Corey Conners. He’s 7th on TOUR with an average of 1.13 Strokes gained: Ball Striking per round. *Hovland’s approach game consistency is remarkable for such a young player. Hovland has won strokes using his approach play in almost 70% of his career rounds (69.8%). In more than half of those rounds he has hit at least 72% on his greens in regulation. The average greens hit in the TOUR last season was 65.6%. *Hovland is an elite player when he takes longer approach shots. He’s been the PGA TOUR’s leader in the average distance to the hole between 200 and 225 yards for each of his two seasons. He hit his approach shots at that distance last season to an average distance 33 feet, 2 ins – nine feet more than the TOUR average. His average distance from the fairway in the last two seasons was 30 feet, 9inches, and he ranged between 175-225 yards. This is the TOUR’s best score in this span, at 17 inches. It’s also six feet more than the TOUR average. *Hovland’s dominance in El Camaleon over the past two years is largely due to his great tee–to-green play. His regulation-hit 116 greens the last two seasons (80.6%) is seven more players than any other player. Hovland also excelled on the greens last year, placing in the top five for scrambling percentage as well as putting average. Hovland has been playing the par 5s at 20 under par the past two years, which is the highest score in that time period. *Hovland has made dramatic greens improvements since his first season on TOUR. He ranked 115th in Strokes Gained – Putting per Round for 2019-20. This ranking rose to 25th in the last season. He’s gone from 10 to 15 feet to 98th in make percent two years ago to 5th by 2022. *Hovland won the 2021 World Wide Technology Championship in Mayakoba, his third career PGA TOUR title. He was 24 years old when he became one the six international players to win the PGA TOUR three times or more. If Hovland wins again this week, he will be the youngest player to win the same event in three consecutive years. This is four months less than Tiger Woods when he won it at the 2001 Memorial Tournament. His record in the game’s largest events has been a major problem. He addressed this in 2022, with top-10 finishes at THE PLAYERS and The Open Championship (T-9) where he achieved his highest career finish at major. Hovland played three rounds at The Open in St Andrews after a mere six round of 60s at major championships, including the 2020 PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. Hovland may not be able to win the prestigious trophy again, but he could make a huge dent in the TOUR records with another win in Mexico.
By: Justin Ray, Twenty First Group
Title: Viktor Hovland eyes rare PGA TOUR ‘three-peat’
Sourced From: www.pgatour.com/statsreport/2022/11/01/viktor-hovland-eyes-rare-three-peat-world-wide-technology-championship-at-mayakoba.html
Published Date: Tue, 01 Nov 2022 11:00:00 -0400
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