Politics and golf collide ahead of Saudi event

Phil Mickelson, who won his sixth major title Sunday, will team up with Bucs quarterback Tom Brady against Bryson DeChambeau and Packers QB Aaron Rodgers on July 6 at The Reserve at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana.

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NASSAU, Bahamas — Viktor Hovland made consecutive eagles and closed with consecutive bogeys while overcoming a six-shot deficit to win the Hero World Challenge on Sunday and keep Collin Morikawa from reaching No. 1 in the world. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Viktor Hovland, Hero World Challenge | Hero World Challenge was stage for reemergence of public Tiger Woods So wild was this final round of the year for golf’s elite that Morikawa, who started the day with a five-shot lead, wasn’t even a factor over the last hour at Albany Golf Club. Hovland closed with a 6-under 66 in his debut at a holiday event that was filled with pure chaos involving eagles and triple bogeys, none more bizarre than Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson hitting their drives off the ninth tee from what was a new 17th tee for the final round. “I didn’t think a win was going to be very possible,” Hovland said. “But I know this course is tricky. You can make birdies, but it’s easy to make bogeys and doubles. If I put a good score up there, you never know what’s going to happen.” Just about everything did. Ultimately, this was about another 24-year-old star in the making adding to a big year. It just wasn’t the one so many expected. Morikawa, the Open champion, missed three birdie chances from 10 feet or closer at the start of the round and then went sideways with two shots into the bushes at Nos. 4 and 6 that led to double bogeys and a 41 on the front nine. He closed with a 76 and tied for fifth. A victory would have made him the 25th player to reach No. 1 in the world since the ranking began in 1986. That still belongs to U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm, who didn’t play this week. Hovland was among five players who had at least a share of the lead at some point. That changed on the reachable par-4 14th for more than just Hovland. First it was Sam Burns, a two-time winner this year who was tied for the lead when he put his tee shot just right of the green. Four times, with a fairway metal and a wedge, he hit up the slope and watched it roll back to his feet. He made triple bogey to fall back. Next came Hovland, hitting his tee shot into a bunker. He blasted out and lightly pumped his fist when it dropped for an eagle. On the par-5 15th, Hovland hit his second shot with a breeze at his back to 20 feet and holed that for another eagle. And he wasn’t done. He dropped his approach to 3 feet for birdie on the 16th. That allowed him two bogeys at the end to finish at 18-under 270. Scottie Scheffler narrowly missed a fifth straight birdie on the 18th hole. He shot 66 and finished one shot behind, ending a year in which he made a sterling Ryder Cup debut but still has yet to win on the PGA TOUR. Scheffler started seven shots back. He made a triple bogey. And he nearly won. Justin Thomas had a 64 to tie for fifth. Another shot back was Daniel Berger, who was right in the mix until starting the back nine with two bogeys, and then holing out with a full wedge for eagle from the 15th fairway. Bryson DeChambeau finished his day with a triple bogey from the water. He was leading after 36 holes and finished in a tie for 14th in the 20-man field. Spieth and Stenson were at the bottom of the pack all day, and they were assured of staying there when they walked back to where the ninth tee had been all week, not realizing that it was used as the tee for the par-3 17th hole and they should have been playing about 25 yards farther ahead. They had to replay the hole and add two shots to their score. It was that kind of day, and the action never stopped until Tiger Woods — in a red shirt, of course — handed the trophy to the Norwegian. Hovland is the third straight international winner, following Henrik Stenson and Rahm. He won for the third time this year, following victories in Mexico a month ago and Germany on the European Tour this summer.

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PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Keegan Bradley can’t recall having an easier time than he did Thursday at Innisbrook. He missed only one green. His longest par putt was just over 4 feet. It added to a 7-under 64 and another great start in the Valspar Championship. RELATED: Leaderboard | What the pros are playing: Valspar Championship It’s the second round that recently has given Bradley fits on the Copperhead course. Bradley ran off four birdies over his last five holes, finishing with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th and a two-shot lead on a day of low scoring not typically seen at this PGA TOUR stop. “Basically zero stress the whole day,” Bradley said. “I know that I’m going to have some bogeys and some stress coming. But as for today, I played so good and it feels good to go around a course like this and shoot that score.” Riviera winner Max Homa had eight birdies and was in a large group at 66 that included Emiliano Grillo and Ryan Moore. It wasn’t a breeze for everyone. Dustin Johnson didn’t make a birdie over his final 12 holes and had to settle for a 71. Johnson hasn’t finished in the top 10 in just over two months and first has to worry about making the cut. Justin Thomas celebrated his 28th birthday by opening with an eagle and coming inches away from a hole-in-one, but he stalled on the back nine and shot 69. Phil Mickelson, playing at Innisbrook for the first time since 2004, shot 73. As for Bradley, this is the fifth straight time he has started the Valspar Championship in a tie for sixth or better. He has missed the cut twice — including in 2016, when he shared the 18-hole lead — and has cracked the top 30. This could be a different year given the change in date. The tournament has been part of the Florida swing in March since 2007. Because of a change in the calendar, it was moved to the last week in April this year. With hotter weather — temperatures were pushing 90 — the course is getting more water than usual. Combined with a little more humidity, conditions were a little softer. Bradley had his game dialed in from the start, and especially at the finish. He made birdie the only time he missed a green, just short on the par-3 15th. He had the 4-foot par putt and another one from just over 3 feet. The other nine par putts were 20 inches or shorter. “I didn’t really come close to making a bogey, so that was a really fun day to be out there and playing,” Bradley said. In a season of players ending long stretches without winning, perhaps Moore is in line to join the list. The last of his five PGA TOUR wins was in 2016, the year he played in the Ryder Cup. He missed the last four months of 2020 with a back injury, and it’s been slow coming back. And his back was feeling a little tight the last few days. The warm weather helped, and so did a conservative approach. “I couldn’t try and do too much. I couldn’t try and overwork shots and stuff like that,” he said. “I just had to play it pretty neutral and just kind of hit more three-quarter shots all the way around, and that apparently worked. Maybe I should do that more often.” Paul Casey, trying to become only the fourth player in the last 40 years to win the same tournament three straight times (Tiger Woods did it on six occasions), overcame a rough start with a 68. He also came inches away from an ace on the fourth hole, with one fan jumping out of his chair prematurely. It caught the lip. He made a 2. “A three-peat has been talked about a lot and will be talked about until I’m done here, and I just want to kind of hang around, which is what I did today,” Casey said. “I certainly can’t win it today, but I want to hang around.” The best start — it felt like that, anyway — belonged to Michael Visacki, who received plenty of fame at the start of the week with his 20-foot putt to win a playoff in a Monday qualifier and earn his first start in a PGA TOUR event. He was sobbing when he shared the news with his father. He was smiling when he got up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 first hole. Highlights were rare — he also made a birdie on the par-3 13th — and he opened with a 74.

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