GREENSBORO, N.C. – It was another stellar performance for nascent pro Viktor Hovland at the Wyndham Championship, but in the end even a fourth-place finish wasn’t enough to secure a PGA Tour card for next year.
Hovland was low amateur at both the Masters and U.S. Open earlier this year, and he has now finished inside the top-20 in four of five starts as a professional. That includes his performance this week at Sedgefield Country Club, where he went 64-65 over the weekend to finish at 19 under, three shots behind winner J.T. Poston.
“I feel like I’ve just been playing better and better every single week,” Hovland said. “Obviously this is my best finish throughout the five tournaments that I played. I’ve just got to keep it going in the Korn Ferry Finals and hopefully I’ll make it through.”
Hovland has watched former NCAA standouts Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa win Tour events in recent weeks, and he hoped to join them with a victory Sunday that would have qualified him for the playoffs that begin next week. While a tie for second would have left him out of the field for The Northern Trust, it still would have meant enough FedExCup points for a full PGA Tour card in 2020.
Instead he fell 67 points short, the equivalent of a 12th-place finish, and will now head to the Korn Ferry Finals with hopes of earning one of 25 PGA Tour cards available in the three-event series.
“Shot a couple good rounds or really low rounds, but mostly it’s just been very consistent,” Hovland said. “I think that gives me a lot of confidence going into the (Finals), because there are three tournaments and I know that if I just play my game, I should make it through.”
Hovland’s point total only included his results since turning pro, meaning he received no credit for his T-12 finish at Pebble Beach or his T-32 result at Augusta National since those came when he was an amateur. While that technicality ultimately cost Hovland guaranteed status for next season, he harbored no ill feelings.
“I already knew that it wasn’t going to count. So I mean, it is what it is,” Hovland said. “I just should have played a little bit better and it wouldn’t have been a problem. No, I don’t have any complaints.”
Should Hovland fail to secure a card at Finals, he would retain at least status on the developmental Korn Ferry Tour for 2020 with the option of accepting up to seven sponsor invites into PGA Tour events in an effort to gain his card.