Incredible leaderboard at Scarlet as the Korn Ferry tour is in tour to kick off their run for the PGA Tour. Vikor Hovland, the phenom who jumped into the spotlight on the PGA Tour this year, but fell just short of getting his card is tied for the lead the lead while last year's champ and guest on the show form Monday Robert Streb is just three back and tied for 5th. From the PGATour.com's Sean Wildhack...
Viktor Hovland and Cameron Percy fired matching 7-under 64s to claim the first-round lead at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. Doug Ghim sits one stroke behind after posting a 6-under 65, while Matthew NeSmith trails by two after an opening-round 66.
Hovland did not show any nerves in his Korn Ferry Tour debut. The 21-year-old recorded birdies on three of his first seven holes and made the turn at 3-under for the round.
Hovland caught fire with an eagle at the par-5 12th, moving him to 5-under. He carded his only bogey of the day at the par-4 14th but rebounded with birdies on his final three holes to post an opening-round 7-under 64.
“This course could be pretty hard, and a lot of the pins were kind of tucked in,” Hovland said. “I finally got some good looks and finally made a birdie on No. 4 and a nice putt on No. 5 to kind of get kick‑started. I made three really nice putts to finish and hopefully that will keep me going for the rest of the week.”
Hovland enters the Korn Ferry Tour Finals after a summer to remember. The highly touted Oklahoma State University alum recorded five top-16 finishes in six PGA TOUR starts between June and early August including a T12 at the U.S. Open as an amateur. He earned his best result as a professional with a solo-fourth at the Wyndham Championship two weeks ago.
Despite his impressive stretch, Hovland fell 67 FedExCup points short of earning his PGA TOUR card. He now looks to capture a spot in The Finals 25 and secure his place on TOUR for the 2019-20 season.
“I've played well,” Hovland said of his summer. “I think most of all the fact that I've been so consistent every week. I haven’t had one fourth and then two missed cuts and then one 25th or 18th. The fact that I've made all the cuts that I've been playing in, that gives me even more confidence. I feel like in the [Korn Ferry Tour] Finals, if you just play consistently good golf, that should get the job done.”
We have the potential to see some crazy good golf this weekend if history is any indicator...