Hovland’s incredible year continues as he breaks PGA Tour record
He kept us on the edge of our seats for a month but Viktor Hovland has finally broken an 18-year-old record
After tying Bob Estes’ record for the most consecutive PGA Tour rounds in the 60s since 1983 at the Greenbrier, Viktor Hovland had us waiting a whole month to see if he could break it.
With his return to PGA Tour action at the CJ Cup, the 22-year-old wrote himself into the history books with an opening-round 69 in Korea.
This extended his streak to 18 consecutive PGA Tour rounds in the 60s, beating Estes’ record of 17 which he set in 2001.
The event has been known to offer some low-scoring opportunities and the benign conditions were perfect for Hovland to shoot the 3-under needed to break the record.
Hovland added a second 69 in the second round to extend his run to 19, but that’s where it ended after he carded a third-round 74.
Viktor Hovland’s consecutive rounds in the 60s
- 64 (Rocket Mortgage Classic)
- 69, 66, 69, 65 (3M Open)
- 69, 69, 68, 64 (John Deere Classic)
- 66, 66, 64, 65 (Wyndham Classic)
- 68, 68, 68, 64 (Greenbrier)
- 69, 69 (CJ Cup)
Hovland began his record-breaking round well with two birdies in his opening three holes but gave those shots quickly back thanks to bogeys at the 4th and 6th.
That was the end of his struggles and he didn’t drop a shot for the remainder of the round and made the necessary three birdies on the back-nine to finish below the 70 mark.
His streak began in the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic in June and has continued through four more full events prior to the CJ Cup.
The former World No. 1 Amateur was the low am at both the Masters and US Open before he turned professional ahead of the 2019 Travelers Championship and the Rocket Mortgage was just his second pro start, a week after his debut.
Between the first round of his debut week on tour and his record-breaking round, he recorded just four rounds in the 70s and 21 in the 60s.
With that in mind, it won’t be a surprise to find that Hovland has completed this feat much earlier in his PGA Tour career than Estes did.
If he keeps playing at this standard surely he is nailed on for a place in the European Ryder Cup team.
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Joe Hughes
Tour editor covering men's golf, women's golf and anything else that involves the word golf, really. The talk is far better than the game, but the work has begun to change that.
