Hello All!
It was yet another great week in the sports world, we had an incredible week with the second round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and the Tour Championship is upon us. We will be getting into all of that and more on this week’s edition of What’s Up Sports.
Enjoy!
Victory For Viktor
It has been an incredible year for Viktor Hovland, going into this year he had not won a big time PGA Tour event. He now has won two of them. It was a dominant Final round that ended up getting the win for Viktor. Let’s get into how it all went down at Olympia Fields just outside of Chicago.
Going into the week there were storylines left and right. After the first round of the playoffs we had narrowed the field from 70 to 50 of the best golfers in the world. In the second round we would narrow that down even more from 50 to 30. So with the state set for an amazing week the action began.
The first and second rounds were filled with incredible golf across the board, highlighted by Max Homa’s course record setting 62. So after the first 2 days Max Homa has the leader. He looked unstoppable, he was hitting the ball well and putting it incredible. It looked like he might run away with the tournament. But he didn’t. Actually he did the opposite, his 3rd round got off to an okay start, he made a bunch of pars and a birdie, but he made a terrible triple bogey 7 on the 7th hole to eject himself from contention immediately. He would eventually get it back together a little bit and ended up shooting a 71(+1). It was clear that he would have a hard time actually winning the tournament after a round like that.
So with Homa struggling, the lead was up for grabs. 2 golfers in particular would take advantage of that, Matthew Fitzpatrick and world number 1 Scottie Scheffler. Both of them had awesome Saturdays and at the end of the third round they were tied atop the leaderboard at -11. It was all shaping up for a very entertaining final round on Sunday.
Throughout the year Scottie Scheffler has struggled with his putter whenever it means the most, those struggles continued on Sunday. Scottie got off to a hot start and made 2 birdies in his first 4 holes to take the solo lead above Matt Fitzpatrick.
Making the turn Scottie held a 1 shot lead over Fitzpatrick and he would carry that lead through the 14th hole where he held a 3 shot lead over Matthew. But that would not last long, Fitzpatrick would birdie both holes 15 and 16, so when Scottie Scheffler bogeyed 17 they were tied. But then all of the sudden another name popped up at the top of the leaderboard. Victor Hovland.
After a mediocre front 9 Hovland lit the world on fire on the back 9. He birdied holes 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, and 18. 7 birdies(!) on the back 9 to shoot an incredible 28 on the back 9 and a 33-28-61 breaking the course record and launching himself into the 2 shot lead with the leaders having just 1 hole to play. So on the 18th hole Scottie Scheffler and Matthew Fitzpatrick needed to hole out for eagle to make it into a playoff with Hovland. Scottie hit first, he hit a great shot but he ended up leaving it about 10 feet short of the hole to eliminate himself from contention. Fitzpatrick was the last person who could join the playoff if he were to hole out. Fitzpatrick hit a great shot and gave the hole a scare but at the end of the day he ended up missing the shot. So with that Viktor Hovland was a PGA Tour winner for the second time this season and the fifth time in his career.
The Tour Championship Is Here
After thousands of rounds, 46 tournaments, and millions of shots hit the entire FedEx Cup season has all lead to this week, The Tour Championship. This tournament is unique for many reasons but the biggest thing that sets this week apart from any other week on the PGA Tour is the staggered start. Based upon your position on the FedEx Cup Points list you start at a different position on the leaderboard. For example, Scottie Scheffler is the #1 Player in the world right now, so he will start at -10 two shots ahead of the next closest competitor. This staggered start allows the top players to take advantage of all of the success that has helped them get to where they are now.
Because of this staggered start there are realistically probably only 5-8 players that really have a good chance at contending in and possibly winning this tournament. Let’s walk through each of those players now.
Scottie Scheffler - Starts the tournament at -10
Scottie Scheffler has been a dominant force on the PGA Tour for the past 2 years. His ball striking has drawn comparisons to the likes of Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan. But he has struggled with his putter as of late. So I think that if he can jut figure out his putter for 3 or 4 rounds, his ball striking will launch him to a dominant victory.
Viktor Hovland - Starts the tournament at -8
Viktor Hovland has had an incredible year, he has won twice this season including last week at the BMW Championship. He is riding tons of momentum from the past few weeks. I think that Hovland is someone to really watch out for this week at East Lake. He is hitting the ball really well, and putting it great as well. The only concern that I have for him is adjusting to the Bermuda grass that is all over East Lake. I think this transition will be particularly challenging with chipping. The different types of grass make a big difference with chipping. So I definitely think he has a really good chance at winning this week, but I am going to really be watching his chipping.
Rory McIlroy - Starts the tournament at -7
If there is anyone that has incredible history at East Lake golf club it is Rory McIlroy. Rory has already won this tournament 3 times throughout his career. That is more than any other human walking this earth. He is looking to make it 4 this week. Rory is a threat to win the tournament any time that he tees the ball up. So the fact that he starts ahead of 26 of the 30 players in the field this week makes it hard to imagine a world in which Rory doesn’t at least contend this week in the tournament.
Jon Rahm - Starts the tournament at -6
Rahm got off to a scorching hot start to the season with 4 wins right off the bat including the Masters. But since then it seems that he has struggled a little bit. He hasn’t won since then, and more recently he has really struggled the past 2 weeks in particular. I would not bet on Rahm to win this week just because of his recent form, but at the same time I could see him just catch fire with the putter and make a run. So I would say that if Jon Rahm gets his putter rolling then he could be a huge threat to win this event.
Brian Harman - Starts the tournament at -4
Brian Harman has been playing exceptional golf. There is no other way to say it, since his victory at The Open Championship he has seemed to really find his game. He has had great finishes in both of the first 2 playoff events to put himself if a great position going into this week. Brian is someone who has proved that hits a ton of fairways and he can really get the putter rolling. If he can do both of those things then I think that he can contend in a possibly win this tournament. The main thing that I am looking for with Brian Harman is how many fairways is he hitting. Typically he is quite accurate off the tee but he has struggled with his driver as of late. So that’s what I would look out for.
Max Homa - Starts the tournament at -4
If I were to base my prediction straight off of recent form, then I would totally think Max Homa has a chance at winning this week. He has been playing exceptional golf recently and he even set the course record last week which he held for a whopping 24 hours before Viktor Hovland beat it the following day. But the point remains, Max Homa has been playing exceptional golf and he has the skills to go really low and launch himself into contention right of the bat.
Other Possible contenders
Lucas Glover
Patrick Cantlay
Rickie Fowler
Tom Kim
Wyndham Clark
If there is anything that I have learned from watching golf it is that anything can happen. In theory any one of the 30 players in the field this week has a chance of winning this week. So with all of the preparation and predictions complete there is only one thing left to do. Enjoy the tournament!
Also Worth Noting…
Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clarke, and Xander Schauffele have all qualified for the US Ryder Cup team.
The Little League World Series is heating up
Max Homa yelled at a fan who betting on him for yelling in the middle of his swing, causing controversy throughout the golf community.
Alexa Pano won her first LPGA tournament this last week at the ISPS Handa World Challenge jumpstarting what is sure to be a very successful career
Leonel Messi and Inter Miami have torn their way through the 2023 US Open Cup and they are now in the Finals
Djokovic beat Alcaraz in a highly entertaining match
What I am Watching This Week
Wednesday: Red Sox @ Astros 8:10 PM E.T.
Thursday: Round 1 Of The Tour Championship
Friday: Dodgers @ Red Sox 7:10 PM E.T.
Saturday: Raiders @ Cowboys 8:00 PM E.T. + Round 3 Of The Tour Championship
Sunday: Final Round Of The Tour Championship
Thanks so much for reading this week’s edition of What’s Up Sports. If you liked this article make sure to share it with someone else you think would also like it. Thanks again for reading!
Peace and Love!
Good job brother