Hovland: "I'm the PO 2nd Round Champ"... Im Sung-jae 7th Place

BMW Championship FR 9-Under Par '4.8 Billion Jackpot'
Schauffele and Fitzpatrick Tied for 2nd, McIlroy 4th
Kim Joo-hyung 10th, Kim Si-woo 31st, An Byeong-hoon 43rd

‘Taekwondo Boy’ Viktor Hovland (Norway) delivers a ‘great comeback show.’

On the 20th (local time), at the Olympia Fields Country Club (par 70, 7,366 yards) in Olympia Fields, Illinois, USA, he completed a come-from-behind victory (17-under 263) in the final round of the second FedExCup Playoffs (PO) event of the 2022/2023 PGA Tour season, the BMW Championship (total prize money $20 million), by shooting a daily best 9-under 61. This marks his second win of the season and fifth career victory, two months after the Memorial Tournament in June, with a winner’s prize of $3.6 million (approximately 4.8 billion KRW).

Victor Hovland is hitting an iron shot on the 18th hole of the 4th round of the PO 2nd BMW Championship. [Olympia Fields (USA) = AFP·Yonhap News]

Hovland boosted his FedExCup ranking from 7th last week to 2nd. The PGA Tour will hold the final third FedExCup PO event, the Tour Championship, starting on the 24th. It is a ‘big match’ featuring only the top 30 players in the FedExCup rankings. The Tour Championship gives advantages to players based on their points ranking. The 1st place starts with a 10-under stroke advantage. Players ranked 2nd to 5th receive bonuses ranging from 5 to 8 under par. Those ranked 6th to 10th get 4 under par, 11th to 15th get 3 under par, 16th to 20th get 2 under par, 21st to 25th get 1 under par, and 26th to 30th start at even par, respectively.

Hovland collected 10 birdies (1 bogey). After reducing 2 strokes in the front nine, he showed outstanding performance with three consecutive birdies on holes 10 to 12, and two pairs of back-to-back birdies on holes 14 to 15 and 17 to 18. He powered his game with an average drive of 310.70 yards, a greens-in-regulation rate of 88.89%, and 1.38 putts per hole.

Scottie Scheffler (USA) shot 4 under par to tie for 2nd place (15 under par 265) with Matt Fitzpatrick (England). Scheffler will enter the final event as the FedExCup No. 1. Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) performed well, finishing 4th (12 under par 268) and ranked 3rd in the FedExCup standings. Jon Rahm (Spain), who was No. 1 in the FedExCup rankings, finished tied for 31st (even par 280), dropping to 4th in the rankings.

From Korea, Im Sung-jae improved his position by 4 strokes to 7th place (10 under par 270). This marks his second consecutive top-10 finish and his ninth top-10 of the season. Im, who was runner-up in last year’s FedExCup, advanced to the Tour Championship ranked 17th in the FedExCup standings. ‘PGA star’ Kim Joo-hyung surged with a 7-under round to jump to a tie for 10th (7 under par 273), holding the best FedExCup ranking among Korean players at 16th.

Kim Si-woo made 2 birdies but 3 bogeys, losing one stroke and finishing tied for 31st (even par 280). He will compete in the final event ranked 20th in the FedExCup standings. On the other hand, An Byeong-hun made 3 birdies, 1 bogey, and 4 double bogeys, losing 6 strokes and dropping to 43rd place (5 over par 285). An failed to qualify for the final event, ranked 44th in the FedExCup standings.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.