Viktor Hovland entered the final day of the Tour Championship with a one‑stroke advantage, while Scottie Scheffler remained in the hunt and Rory McIlroy kept his FedExCup aspirations alive. Hovland capped his third round with a dramatic birdie‑birdie finish, carding a five‑under 65 at East Lake.
The score lifted the 2023 FedExCup champion to 15 under par, putting him a slim margin ahead of his playing partner Ryan Gerard. The weekend’s midway leaders soon found themselves under intense pressure from a deep, star‑filled chase pack. World No.
1 Scottie Scheffler, three strokes back, sat in third place and was eyeing a second FedExCup title. Joining him at 12 under were Chris Gotterup, Adam Scott and Ludvig Åberg, each of whom posted a three‑birdie finish to their own 65.
Meanwhile, McIlroy vaulted into a tie for seventh after establishing the early clubhouse benchmark with a round‑of‑the‑day 63. McIlroy now trails by five strokes alongside Cameron Young as he pursues a record‑extending fourth FedExCup crown. All 29 competitors entered the final round under par, underscoring the tournament’s tightly packed leaderboard. Gotterup quickly forced a three‑way tie with a birdie on the third hole, while Hovland, paired with Gerard, seized the same opportunity but missed a sand save on the following hole, settling for par.
Young added birdies on two of his first six holes to climb to 10 under, and McIlroy surged through the field, delivering four birdies over a six‑hole stretch on his back‑nine, further compressing the race for the top spot. Earlier in his round, McIlroy had fallen eight strokes behind the leaders, but he soon set the clubhouse target. Just before Gotterup briefly claimed the solo lead, Hovland and Gerard capitalized on the par‑five sixth hole to move ahead at 11 under. Gerard followed with a nine‑foot birdie on the seventh and traded pars with Hovland around the turn.
He then doubled his lead over the packed chase pack by holing a 12‑foot putt on the 12th. Hovland responded in kind, sinking a similar‑distance birdie on the next hole and then a 15‑footer to match Gerard’s par on the 14th.
He picked up an additional stroke on the 15th, pulling even with his partner at 13 under. Both players saved par on the 16th, after which Hovland seized the outright lead with an eight‑foot birdie on the 17th.
The duo exchanged birdies on the final par‑five, guaranteeing they would return to the last group on Sunday. "Super pleased," Hovland said after his round.
"A 65 out there, especially with that finish, I'm super happy with that. I'd say the last few weeks I have been putting a lot better, but it's been hard to put together consistently good days in a row. It's been just one of those weeks where I've been able to put it together every single day for three days." The Masters champion, who was seven strokes off the halfway lead, showed little sign of a title charge early on, scrambling for par on the first hole and making a three‑putt bogey on the second.
He quickly rebounded with birdies on the next two holes and took advantage of the par‑five sixth. McIlroy added another birdie from 10 feet on the par‑four seventh but missed the opportunity on the driveable eighth. A close‑range birdie on the 10th was offset by a dropped shot on the following hole.
The world No. 2 then picked up a shot from eight feet on the 12th and holed three consecutive birdie chances—12 feet on the 15th and a longer one on the 16th—matching his lowest career round at East Lake. "I got myself back in the tournament," McIlroy reflected.
"I think the difference today was I just putted a lot better. I think I lost maybe a combined three shots on the greens over the first two days and I probably gained over three on the greens today. The ball striking has been there.
I hit some nice iron shots, drove it well for the most part. I felt like I played okay the last couple days, just wasn't getting as much out of my game as I wanted to. I pieced it together today and obviously with a better score." As the final round approaches, the question looms: who will capture the FedExCup? Fans can watch the decisive Sunday round live from 5 pm on Sky Sports Golf, or stream the action without a contract via NOW.
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