Viktor Hovland made six birdies and two bogeys for a final-round, 4-under 67 to reach 11-under and win the Valspar Championship.
“It feels unbelievable,” said the Norwegian. “It’s been quite the struggle the past year and a half, so for me to come back and win this tournament is quite incredible because, yeah, I was not very hopeful with my game leading into this week and, yeah, just goes to show this game is pretty crazy.
“I just tried to go out there and play my game and I knew I didn’t feel super comfortable or confident, but I was really patient and just tried to play really smart and I think that’s a credit kind of to myself this week is that I almost felt like I played this week like a veteran, like I’ve been out here for 20 years. Just really plotted my way around the course really nicely. I hit a bad shot and it didn’t really faze me all at that much. I leaned on my putting, hit a lot of great iron shots, so, yeah, it was awesome.”
This was his seventh PGA Tour title at the age of 27 and his first since the 2023 Tour Championship, a span of 21 starts.
Hovland improves to 4-for-5 in converting to victory when holding the 54-hole lead/co-lead on Tour and is the first 54-hole leader/co-leader to win the Valspar Championship since Sam Burns in 2021.
American Justin Thomas made seven birdies in his first fifteen holes but played the Snake Pit in 2-over with bogeys at the 16th and 18th for a 66 and finished second at 10-under. 131 (65-66) marks the low final 36-hole score in tournament history. It had previously played in 132 six times.
This is his ninth career runner-up finish on Tour, including the third in his last nine starts on Tour (T2/2024 Baycurrent Classic, 2nd/2025 American Express) and he collects his 16th top-10 on Tour since his last victory at the 2022 PGA Championship (57 starts).
54-hole co-leader Jacob Bridgeman made five birdies and a bogey as well as a double bogey at the par-3 4th to close with a 69 and finish third at 9-under, his second top-three finish this season (T2/Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches). Bridgeman also held the outright 36-hole lead and a share of the 18-hole lead.
In his first start since reaching the top 125 threshold for his Major Medical Extension, American Bud Cauley posted a bogey-free 66, his first bogey-free round this season, and claimed a share of fourth place at 8-under. Following a T6 at The Players, he records back-to-back top-10s in individual stroke-play events on Tour for the first time since the 2017 RBC Heritage (T9) and 2017 Valero Texas Open (T10).
American Billy Horschel signed for a 67 for his share of fourth place, his second top-10 finish in 10 starts this season (T9/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am).
Entering the week with missed cuts in four of his last five starts, Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune tied for fourth and collects his third top-10 finish since joining the Tour as a member at the start of the 2024 season (T3/2024 Wyndham Championship, T10/2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld).
