Scott calls an audible after birth of son Byron

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – For the last two days at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, you can’t miss a Norwegian. RELATED: Final leaderboard | The clubs Hovland used to win And that’s not, specifically, Viktor Hovland – although we’ll get to him soon – instead a throng of about 15 Norwegian fans who planned a trip around the event at Mayakoba in order to cheer on their countryman. Hovland gave the crew plenty to root for over the weekend at El Camaleón Mayakoba Golf Course and on Sunday he won for the third time on TOUR. He set the 72-hole scoring record in the process and became the first every back-to-back champ of the event. The group, all members of the same golf club in Norway, make an annual trip to Mexico. Hovland said he had no idea who they are, but when he played at Mayakoba three years ago he did see them once before. Oslo, Norway, is about 5,200 miles from Playa Del Carmen, but for the last two days, anyway, Hovland felt the love. “The Norwegian people are very patriotic and it’s cool to see that I can get so much support even in Mexico, which is pretty far away from Norway. They were great,” said Hovland, the fifth consecutive international winner on the PGA TOUR. “They applauded good shots and obviously cheered a little bit extra when I made a putt. It was really nice. I want to thank them a lot.” The crew was in full voice Sunday to cheer on the 24-year-old, who overcame what seemed like the universe working against him this week to take this one across the finish line. He won by four over Carlos Ortiz, who put on a show for the Mexican faithful. This is Ortiz’s second runner-up result in three years at Mayakoba. Hovland’s week started with a broken driver, a product of Danny Lee doing some speed training exercise on the range Wednesday. He had to borrow James Hahn’s, which worked out just fine – he was T2 in Driving Accuracy for the week. Hovland had his best-career effort in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee last season, so he said it’s unlikely he’ll put the new driver specs into his bag full-time, but there’s no denying that something clicked this week. “I could see myself using maybe this setup at certain courses for sure,” said Hovland. Then Hovland opened his second round by hitting his approach no more than “four steps right of the pin.” But it landed on a sprinkler head and went into the trees. Lost ball. “When something like that happens, you just kind of go, ‘Oh, man, come on, like really, is that (going to) happen?” said Hovland. “I was able to get over that pretty quickly.” Hovland righted the ship on Saturday with a 9-under 62 (perhaps since nothing odd happened that day) and was untouchable Sunday. He became the first golfer to win the same event in back-to-back years since Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship in 2018-19. Hovland put on as complete a performance as any through the early part of the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season – despite plenty of obstacles in his way – and is projected to move to fourth in the FedExCup standings. “I wouldn’t say the third round that I played is my best round ever. I didn’t like, tell myself, ‘Oh, man, I’m playing the best golf of my life,’ but it’s just kind of putting everything together into four rounds and making very few mistakes,” said Hovland. “I would say I’ve definitely had better ball-striking weeks, but to put a good ball-striking week with good short game and good putting is something that I haven’t done very often.” On Sunday Hovland was 3-under for his first nine holes, and despite to bogeys on the back nine, he came in with a 4-under 67 to close the door. “I was coming in with some high expectations, but obviously for it to end like this and win by four shots, it’s been a cool week,” said Hovland. “Couldn’t ask for it to go any different.” Justin Thomas, playing in the group ahead of Hovland and Talor Gooch, finished third at 18 under, while another Ryder Cupper, Scottie Scheffler, finished fourth. Scheffler, who played alongside Bryson DeChambeau and defeated Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood on Saturday at Whistling Straits, said Hovland’s game has been “proven” over the last couple of seasons. “He’s a great ball-striker and a really good putter as well and obviously a very talented guy,” said Scheffler. “I’m sure this won’t be the last time you’ll see him on top of the leaderboard.” And with every appearance on top of a PGA TOUR leaderboard, you can bet there will be even more fans from Norway cheering him on.

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The dead arm was one issue for Justin Thomas. A cluttered mind was the other. Combine the two, and it’s no wonder the defending champion of The Honda Classic was left searching for answers as he walked off PGA National on Friday after a 4-over 74. “My mind is just all over the place,â€� Thomas said. “I can’t seem to focus. Not playing well today definitely doesn’t help with that. That’s no excuse; it’s no one’s fault but my own, but sometimes you just can’t quite get into it.â€� At 2 over through the two rounds, Thomas was outside the cutline when he signed his scorecard in the early afternoon, although he’s hopeful that challenging conditions will move back the cut line and give him a chance to squeeze into the weekend and regroup. He could certainly use it after a second round that included water balls at the par-3 15th (triple bogey) and par-4 sixth (double bogey). It’s the second time in his last four rounds that he’s suffered at least two doubles-or-worse; his third-round 74 last week at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship included two doubles. Thomas was able to minimize some of the damage Friday with a hole-out for eagle from 52 yards at the par-5 third. “One of the few positives of the day,â€� he said. It was a day that started off on the wrong foot. Or more specific, arm. On Thursday, he suffered a stinging sensation to his right arm when his 9-iron scraped a tree after he hit his approach shot at the 10th hole. It made the club unusable for the rest of the round, and Thomas was worried that his wrist might be sore. He took some Advil and iced the wrist, but when he woke up Friday morning, he knew he wasn’t 100 percent. He said the arm wasn’t necessarily numb, but “tingly a little bit.â€� “It just feels like I have a dead arm, like when someone kind of punches you in the arm and you have a dead arm,â€� he explained. “It’s just been about a seven-hour long dead arm … just feels like it kind of needs to get popped. Just doesn’t have a lot of strength.â€�

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Scottie Scheffler was rewarded Sunday for his strong start to his first PGA TOUR season. Scheffler, who will enter the new year ranked 20th in the FedExCup, won the RSM Birdies Fore Love competition for making the most birdies and eagles in the fall portion of the 2020 schedule. Scheffler finished with 139 birdies and eagles, one more than Lanto Griffin. “It’s awesome. It’s great for RSM to put that up,â€� said Scheffler, the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year. “It’s really them doing all the work, I was just lucky enough to make enough birdies. I’m looking forward to seeing what I’m going to do with it.â€� For winning the RSM Birdies Fore Love competition, Scheffler earned $300,000 for the charity of his choice. He finished fifth in The RSM Classic after shooting 15-under 267. It was his fifth top-25 in seven starts this fall, and third top-10. Griffin, the Houston Open champion, started the week with the lead in Birdies Fore Love, but shot a first-round 74. He rallied with a second-round 65 but fell one shot short of the cut. He could only watch as Scheffler shot 63-68 on the weekend at Sea Island’s Seaside Course. Scheffler made eight birdies Saturday but didn’t have one on his front nine Sunday. He made four on the back nine to squeak by Griffin. Griffin earned $150,000 for the charity of his choice for finishing second in the Birdies Fore Love competition, while Denny McCarthy earned $50,000 for finishing third.

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