Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland shake hands ahead of the final round at the 2023 Tour Championship. | Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Hovland and Schauffele decimated East Lake Golf Club’s front nine, as they made history during the final round of the Tour Championship.
ATLANTA — The other 28 players at the Tour Championship must have looked up at the top of the leaderboard Sunday and asked themselves, “What the!?”
That is because Viktor Hovland shot a 4-under 31 on the front nine, while fellow playing partner Xander Schauffele carded a 5-under 30.
Their combined score added up to a 9-under 61 on East Lake’s opening nine. That is the lowest score recorded in the final pairing since 2007, according to the CBS broadcast.
They made the turn at 24 and 19-under respectively.
The next closest competitor after nine holes was U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who sat miles down the leaderboard at 13-under.
The final group recorded nine birdies over the opening nine holes while recording zero bogies.
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Viktor Hovland during the final round of the 2023 Tour Championship.
Both players started their final rounds with a birdie-three at the difficult par-4 1st, and then a 1-hour, 53-minute weather delay halted play.
When the horn sounded, the final group had made it to the green at the par-3 2nd. Hovland faced a 15.5-foot par putt while Schauffele had a 12-footer for birdie.
After play resumed, the Norwegian made it, while the American missed, thus leaving Hovland’s six-shot advantage intact.
Hovland’s par save also kept the scorecard clean for both players, as each went on to eviscerate East Lake’s front nine.
The former Oklahoma State Cowboy went on to make three straight par breakers at the par-4 4th, par-4 5th, and par-5 6th to get to 24-under for the tournament.
Schauffele, meanwhile, kept pace with Hovland, as he made birdies at the par-4 3rd, the 4th, and 6th, and then made a beautiful birdie-three at the tough par-4 8th.
Both players are currently on the back nine as of this writing, with Schauffele closing the gap.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
