Victor Hovland (23) did very well in the third round of The Northern Trust, but was slightly shocked by the finish after finishing in the top ten.
Victor Hovland finished 12th after the first two rounds at the Northern Trust and the Norwegian has been in close combat since the start of the third round.
The 23-year-old was nearly clear on the first 15 holes and was seven strokes below par after seven birdies. Hovland hit expensive in the water putting Hovland on the 16th hole and the Norwegian finished the sixth round under par.
– It was a good day. You hit the ball well. The whole ground was green and I managed to make a few hits here and there. It really went through and I wish I could have finished a little better,” Hovland said on the PGA Tour.
In doing so, he played well and finished sixth in the final round, three strokes behind leader Cameron Smith and John Ram.
Hovland played his way into some good birding chances during the round and with the birds on holes 1, 3, 5 and 8, he was four strokes short of mid-round.
The good match continued into the second half of the round. Hovland played very consistently across all areas of the game, while the birds on holes 11, 13 and 15 put him under seventh on the last three holes. In both first rounds, pigeons made the 16th, 17th and 18th holes, but they started out more difficult on Saturday.
On the 16th hole, he hit the short hole 4 in the water and had to drop more than 200 yards from the hole. From there, he almost saved a pair, but Hovland had to score on the first bogey of the tour.
With the last two slots, there was a round of 65 strokes and six strokes below par.
Australian Cameron Smith has had a very impressive career, with no fewer than eleven pigeons. On the last hole, he barely had four feet of jump throw for a round of 59 strokes, but the guy with his signature hockey weld had to settle for the 18th hole and thus round 60.
The tournament in New Jersey is the first of three PGA Tour playoffs, the FedEx Cup. The fourth round is usually held on Sunday, but due to a tropical storm it has been postponed to Monday.
– I’ll probably stay inside, so I’ll avoid the coming storm. I’ll try to exercise and maybe watch some movies and talk to some friends. The Norwegian says: I have no problem wasting time.
