![\"TOUR](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tour-championship-2026-final-round-atlanta-georgia-august-30-viktor-e1788488462225.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Viktor Hovland reacts on the seventh green during the final round of the TOUR Championship 2026 at East Lake Golf Club.<\/p>\n
Despite finishing runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at the Tour Championship,<\/a> Viktor Hovland still managed to turn heads at East Lake. Just not for the reason fans might expect.<\/p>\n Following Sunday\u2019s final round, a video of Hovland\u2019s bunker shot on the 13th hole went viral. The shot itself wasn\u2019t the story. Instead, viewers focused on what happened just before Hovland struck the ball. Immediately, a debate started over and whether he should have been assessed a two-stroke penalty.<\/p>\n Victor Hovland Turns Heads<\/p>\n Hovland found himself in a green side bunker on the par-4 13th during Sunday\u2019s final round. While he eventually walked away with a bogey, a slow-motion replay raised questions about whether the result should have been much worse.<\/p>\n The replay appeared to show Hovland\u2019s wedge getting extremely close to the sand behind his ball before he played his shot. That immediately brought USGA Rule 12.2b<\/a> into the conversation.<\/p>\n The rule applies specifically to bunkers and prohibits a player from touching the sand with a club before making a stroke. Among other things, players cannot touch the sand with their club in the area in front of or behind the ball. This includes during a practice swing and during the backswing.<\/p>\n A violation of the rule comes with a two-stroke penalty. If officials had determined that Hovland\u2019s club had touched the sand, the penalty would have dropped him from a 13-under to an 11-under, and would have seriously impacted his final position on the leaderboard, and his payday.<\/p>\n Instead of finishing solo second and earning $5 million, Hovland would have fallen to a crowded third place finish, and seen a $1.9 million payday. A move Golf.com called<\/a> a $3 million ruling.<\/p>\n However, since the footage went live, PGA Tour rules official Mark Dusbabek said that it doesn\u2019t appear that Hovland did anything wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does not appear to us that he has touched the sand.\u201d <\/p>\n Mark Dusbabek provides some insight on Viktor Hovland\u2019s bunker shot at the 13th. <\/p>\n The decision has since sparked plenty of debate among golf fans, particularly because slow-motion footage makes it difficult to tell what really happened. Still, the Tour\u2019s ruling was clear that it was not a penalty, no matter what the internet might say, and Hovland gets to keep his 13-under and $5 million payday.<\/p>\n Whats Next for Viktor?<\/p>\n While the bunker controversy may have followed Hovland out of East Lake, the 28-year-old is already looking toward the future.<\/p>\n And despite falling short of Scheffler on Sunday, Hovland left the Tour Championship believing there is still plenty more to unlock in his game.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we talk about my ceiling, I didn\u2019t feel like I was anywhere close to it,\u201d said Hovland in an interview with Paul Hodowanic<\/a>. \u201cIf I just had my normal game, my normal ball striking from the previous years, I think I take away this tournament,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n That confidence could be key heading into the offseason.<\/p>\n Hovland recently reunited with swing coach Joe Mayo, who worked with him during the 2023 season, Hovland\u2019s most successful season<\/a> on Tour that saw him win the BMW Championship and Tour Championship back-to-back while reaching a career-best No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking.<\/a><\/p>\n Now, Hovland is hoping to get back to the version of himself that produced those results.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve deviated so far off of my original DNA, I would like to push that closer to my DNA,\u201d Hovland said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see kind of how difficult that is.\u201d<\/p>\n If he and Mayo can work together to rediscover the ball-striking Hovland wants to see, his 2027 season could see him return, and possibly surpass, his previous accomplishments.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSydney Jones<\/a> Sydney Jones is a sports writer covering all things Golf, Mariners, and Seahawks for Heavy.com. She has experience covering the intersection of sports and human interest stories for multiple publications. Originally from Montana, she recently relocated to Seattle and is enjoying the new experience of being surrounding by live professional sports and rooting for a common team while writing about them. 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