Photo Gallery: DEAN & DELUCA Invitational, Final round

Viktor Hovland is looking to win the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba for a third consecutive year, while PGA TOUR Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler and two-time major winner Collin Morikawa also are teeing it up in Mexico. FIELD NOTES: Looking for a third straight Mayakoba victory, Viktor Hovland returns to El Camaleon. This marks his third start of the season after a T5 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and T21 at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina. Steve Stricker is the last person to win the same tournament three consecutive years, after claiming the John Deere Classic from 2009-11… Collin Morikawa, the ninth-ranked player in the world, is making his tournament debut…PGA TOUR Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler, who finished fourth last year, is set to return… Other notables include a pair of former FedExCup champs in Billy Horschel and Justin Rose, plus Tony Finau, who’s making his season debut after winning twice last season… Among the sponsor exemptions are a handful of Mexican players like Jose de Jesus Rodriguez and Sebastian Vazquez, as well as DP World Tour winner Adri Arnaus of Spain and the University of Texas’ Travis Vick, who’s sixth in the PGA TOUR University Ranking presented by Velocity Global. Fan favorite Harry Higgs also is in on a sponsor exemption…Seven former champions in total will return to Mexico to tee it up… Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo and Augusto Nunez also will be part of the Latin American representation. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: El Camaleón Golf Course at Mayakoba, par 71, 7,034 yards. There are three separate Mayan Rivera landscapes golfers traverse at Mayakoba: stretches on the oceanfront, tropical jungle, and mangroves. Birdies come in bunches at Mayakoba, with the winning score averaging at 20 under since 2013. Despite winning in back-to-back years, Viktor Hovland won in two different ways. He was T45 in putts per round in 2021 but was T10 in that same statistic in 2022. He was first in greens hit in 2021, however. Hitting the large resort-style greens in the right spot and staying out of the penalty areas that line many fairways has proven to be the key to success over the last two years. STORYLINES: Can Viktor Hovland join some of the game’s biggest names in the history books? Tiger Woods is the most prolific of three-peaters on the PGA TOUR (winning four separate events three times in a row, plus two events four times in a row) but there hasn’t been a three-peat since Stricker at the John Deere from 2009-11. Hovland thrives in tropical climes, having also won the Puerto Rico Open and last year’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas… While Rory McIlroy supplanted Scheffler atop the world ranking after winning THE CJ CUP in South Carolina, there’s a chance Scheffler could regain the top spot in the world with a win in Mexico… There are just two events after Mayakoba left on the fall portion of the season. This is an important week for those looking for valuable FedExCup points before the holiday break. Taylor Montgomery, in the field in Mexico, is the highest-ranked Korn Ferry Tour grad from this season in the early-season FedExCup rankings thanks to finishing in the top 15 in all four of his starts. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Viktor Hovland (2021) 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Roland Thatcher (3rd round, 2008). LAST TIME: After an impressive third-round 62, Viktor Hovland cruised to the finish line in the final round and successfully defended his World Wide Technology Championship title. Hovland shot a 4-under 67 Sunday to win by four shots. He set the pace on the final day at El Camaleon with three birdies on the front nine and no one was able to make a back-nine charge to catch the Norwegian. It was the first title defense in Mexico since the tournament began in 2007. Justin Thomas finished third while Scottie Scheffler finished fourth. Scheffler put in an impressive effort Sunday to try to chase down Hovland – he was 5 under through his first nine holes and 7 under through 13 – but made an unfortunate double bogey on the par-4 16th to end his chances. HOW TO FOLLOW: Television: Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET. Sunday, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. (Golf Channel) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. ET. Saturday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, 12 p.m.-5 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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He had to wait 80 minutes … or 3,262 days, depending on the perspective. Either way, Paul Casey is once again a winner on the PGA TOUR. Casey, playing nine groups ahead of the last twosome in Sunday’s final round of the Valspar Championship, blistered a tough Innisbrook course for a 6-under 65. The Englishman then had to wait out the finishers, all the while thinking his 10 under total would not hold up.  He signed his scorecard, signed some autographs, did a quick interview and then retreated to the locker room to watch his chasers come in. It was not a fun experience. “Awful,â€� he said, adding later. “Rubbish. Can’t stand it.â€� The biggest threats ended up being Patrick Reed and Tiger Woods. Reed came to 18 needing a birdie to win outright. Instead, his tricky putt from 45 feet turned into disaster and he suffered a bogey. Meanwhile, Woods drained a 43-foot, 8-inch putt at the 17th hole to climb within one stroke. He also faced a difficult birdie putt, this one from just inside 39 feet. Knowing Tiger’s flair for the dramatics, Casey gave it a “50-50â€� chance to go in. But it came up short. “I dodged a bullet,â€� Casey said. He was overdue for it. Prior to Sunday, Casey’s only TOUR win was the 2009 Houston Open. Since then, he’s won five times, four of those on the European Tour. He’s also battled through a variety of injuries that dropped him outside the world’s top 100. But he’s found consistency (he leads the TOUR in consecutive made cuts with 27 straight), made some noise in last year’s FedExCup Playoffs (three top-5 finishes) and finally peaked this week against the best field in Valspar history. “Probably not the most significant win of my career, but it’s certainly one of the most satisfying ones,â€� Casey said. “The quality of golf that I played. I know I made some errors on the round yesterday, I hit it in the water twice but as a whole I would say it’s one of the cleanest weeks I’ve ever had from kind of a golf course management point of view. … “Houston was obviously great fun. My eyes are much more open right now. I’ve taken a lot in. Your last win is always your best one because it’s the freshest.â€� Winning a TOUR event with Woods in contention was also satisfying for Casey. A week ago, Phil Mickelson won at age 47, and with the 42-year-old Woods in the mix, it seemed like he might extend the streak on Sunday. Instead, it was the 40-year-old Casey who did the trick. “I’m sure he was disappointed he didn’t get the victory,â€� Casey said. “I actually thought he was going to win today before the round started. I thought it was just teed up beautifully for him. “I said a couple times if I don’t win this thing, I actually want Tiger to win it. I’m glad it’s this way.â€�  NOTABLES Having set up a chance to force a playoff with his 43-foot putt on the 17th hole, Tiger Woods opted for 2-iron off the tee at the par-4 18th. His drive went 258 yards, leaving him with 185 yards to the pin. No player in the field had a longer approach shot on that hole Sunday. Tiger’s approach finished 39 feet from the pin, and his birdie attempt came up short. Asked why he didn’t use 3-wood off the tee, Woods explained, “I bring the right part of that fairway where it cuts in a little bit with 3-wood into play and on top of that the wind is off the left. If I’m going to squeeze it in I want to cut it. I didn’t feel comfortable with that. If anything, that 2-iron I could have hit it flatter and hotter but, hey, I’m in the fairway, I got a shot at this thing. Unfortunately, I didn’t hit it close enough.â€� You may think Patrick Reed lost his chance at a playoff when he bogeyed the final hole Sunday after his birdie putt rolled back to his feet after failing to clear the top ledge (his ensuing chip to save par came up just short). But from Reed’s perspective, the key misses were two 3-foot birdie chances on Saturday that he failed to convert. “Just too many mistakes out there,â€� Reed said. “I felt like I played solid today. I really didn’t feel like I did anything wrong on the last when I walked off with a 5.â€� Sergio Garcia’s 6-under 65 tied for the low round of the week, but he thinks it could’ve been better. “Could have been a really, really special round,â€� Garcia said. “You know, I probably wasted at least three shots on the front-9 with a 3-putt and a couple short misses for birdies.â€� The big Sunday move, though, left him solo fourth. That’s his best PGA TOUR result in his 12 starts since winning the Masters last year. Brandt Snedeker entered the third round just one shot off the lead and paired with Tiger Woods. But it was a day Sneds will quickly want to forget. His 7-over 78 – which included seven bogeys and one double — dropped him into a tie for 31st. Snedeker’s only suffered one other final round with a higher score – a 79 at the 2014 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Third-round leader Corey Conners also suffered a cruel day, a 6-over 77 that left him tied for 16th. Conners opened with a bogey and never got untracked, failing to produce a birdie the entire round after making 15 the first three days. Nevertheless, the Canadian rookie called the week a “great experienceâ€� after leading each of the first three days. “Little disappointed with the outcome today,â€� he said, “but, yeah, tried to battle hard out there and just wasn’t meant to be.â€� Jim Furyk shot a 5-under 66 to move into solo seventh. It’s his first top-10 finish since a T-6 at The RSM Classic in November of 2016. … Steve Stricker followed up his first win on PGA TOUR Champions last week with a solid T-12 after shooting a 2-under 69, his best round of the week … Branden Grace’s T-8 was his best finish on American soil since the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol. QUOTABLES I’m sure I’ll find a photo somewhere with my name above his.I’m not touching a club tomorrow. I just didn’t hit it hard enough, obviously. Absolutely killed it and the ball rolled back down to where it was. Superlatives Lowest round – The 6-under 65s by winner Paul Casey and Sergio Garcia not only were the lowest of the day but tied for lowest of the week. Longest drive – Luke List’s 374-yard drive on the 10th hole. It reached the tree line and left him just 85 yards to the pin. He ended up with par on the hole. Longest putt – Fabian Gomez’ birdie putt of 56 feet, 8 inches on the fifth hole. It was the first of five birdies on his round – unfortunately he started with three bogeys to shoot 2-under 69. Hardest hole – The 442-yard par-4 18th played to a stroke average of 4.22. The tough pin placement has made it one of the most difficult closing holes on any Sunday on TOUR. Easiest hole – The 529-yard par-5 1st played to a stroke average of 4.55. It was the only hole that contender Justin Rose birdied en route to his 1-over 72. SHOT OF THE DAY CALL OF THE DAY

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Alejandro Canizares defied chilly and windy conditions to shoot a 5-under 67 Thursday for a one-stroke lead after the opening day of the Austrian Open.

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