Dustin Johnson wins the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The way Viktor Hovland sees it, he has nothing to lose on Sunday. Win the Wyndham Championship, and the 21-year-old Norwegian barely three months removed from taking classes at Oklahoma State will be the newest-minted PGA TOUR member. He’ll be headed to New York City for THE NORTHERN TRUST and the FedExCup Playoffs. Should he finish in a two-way tie for second or better, he’ll have his TOUR card. If not, Hovland will have earned enough FedExCup points as a non-member to head to the Korn Ferry Tour finals where he’ll have another chance to earn playing privileges on TOUR for the 2019-20 season. Any of the three scenarios are well within the realm of possibility for Hovland, who shot a third-round 64 that moved him into a tie for fourth at 14 under, just three strokes off the lead held by Ben An. “To be in the spot where I am right now after college, that’s a pretty good spot to be in,â€� Hovland said. “I just try to take advantage of it.â€� Hovland, who earned low amateur honors at the Masters and U.S. Open this year, is one of several high profile collegians who turned pro this summer. Two of them, Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa, have already won on the PGA TOUR – in their third and sixth starts as a pro, respectively. Their stunning success over the last month motivates Hovland. “Obviously, it does help because not even two months ago I played with them in a tournament in a national championship,â€� the Oslo native said. “I played with those guys for two, three years now and it’s cool to see them do really well. “Obviously, that kind of inspires me to think that I can do the same things as they’ve accomplished, but it’s not going to be given to you and you have to go out there and earn it.â€� Hovland, who is playing for pay for just the fifth time this season, teed off 20 minutes before Wolff and quickly climbed the leaderboard with five birdies in his first seven holes. Wolff noticed, and he was glad to see his former Oklahoma State teammate playing well. “It’s cool that he’s still up there,â€� said Wolff, who shot 67 on Saturday and is 11 under. “I already got my card and so did Collin. And so, I guess it’s time for him now. This the last event of the regular season, so hopefully he can make the most of it and join me and Collin in the Playoffs.â€� Hovland’s fast start Saturday had people wondering whether there might be another 59 like the one Brandt Snedeker shot a year ago at Sedgefield Country Club, a Donald Ross gem known for yielding low scores. After the 30 on the front, though, Hovland only managed two more birdies and bogeyed the 14th hole. “I was really feeling it … five under through seven is a good start,â€� Hovland said. “I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to keep that going because I was thinking something special was out there, but after birdie on 18, was nice to kind of give myself some confidence going into tomorrow.â€� Hovland led the field in three Strokes Gained categories – Off The Tee, Approach The Green and Total – on Saturday. Through three rounds, he ranks first in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and second in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. He’s also first in driving distance and proximity to the hole. His putter has been inconsistent, though, which Hovland hopes to shore up on Sunday. He took 31 putts on Thursday, 29 on Friday and 26 in the third round. “Overall, I feel like I’m hitting it pretty good,â€� said Hovland, who has shot 64, 65 and 64 in the final round of his last three events. “There were a couple of bad shots here and there today, missed on a couple wrong sides I really shouldn’t have. But yeah, if I could make more putts, that would really help. “But it was nice to see some going in earlier in the round and I feel like that kind of gave me some more confidence.â€�

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NASSAU, Bahamas — Bubba Watson ends the year at No. 12 in the Presidents Cup standings, and his mission is to be at Royal Melbourne one year from now. But not necessarily as a player. Watson was asked during the Hero World Challenge what would make a good 2019, and he didn’t hesitate. “I have been bugging Mr. Tiger Woods about being a vice captain for Australia,” Watson said. “I would love the honor of doing that again. The reason why is I feel like I can service. For me personally, I have more enjoyment serving 12 guys than playing.” He has experience in that role. Watson was No. 9 in the Ryder Cup standings, when he was left off the team. Davis Love III wound up bringing him to Hazeltine as another vice captain, and Watson thrived in his role. Watson, whose 12 victories on the PGA TOUR include two Masters and two World Golf Championships, has played on only two Presidents Cup teams (5-3-2 record), compared with four Ryder Cup teams. “I always bug Tiger,” Watson said. “He says, `You need to be playing.’ I said, `Look, man, we’ve never won a Ryder Cup with me playing, but we’ve won when I wasn’t playing. So me and you need to be captain and vice captains.’ That’s our joke. I’ve told him, `Listen, I’ll do anything to help you if you want me. If you don’t, that’s fine.'”

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2022 U.S. Open, Round 1 Scoring Conditions: Overall: +2.76 strokes per round Morning wave: +2.5 Afternoon wave: +3.03 Current cutline (top 60 and ties): 78 players at +2 or better (T57) Top 3 projected cutline probabilities: 1. 4 over par: 38.5% 2. 3 over par: 34.8% 3. 5 over par: 14.0% Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Rory McIlroy (T2, -3, 16.6%) 2. Justin Thomas (T14, -1, 7.7%) 3. Jon Rahm (T14, -1, 6.4%) 4. Matthew Fitzpatrick (T7, -2, 6.4%) 5. Scottie Scheffler (T26, E, 5.6%) 6. Adam Hadwin (1, -4, 4.3%) 7. Dustin Johnson (T7, -2, 4.1%) 8. Will Zalatoris (T14, -1, 3.3%) 9. Aaron Wise (T7, -2, 3.2%) 10. Max Homa (T14, -1, 2.3%) NOTE: These reports are based off of the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut”, “Top 20”, “Top 5”, and “Win” probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the U.S. Open, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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