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World Wide Technology Championship: Hovland completes successful defence in Mexico

In-form Viktor Hovland impresses again on day two of Arnold Palmer Invitational

The Norwegian became the first player to defend at El Camaleon after a brilliant weekend performance left him four clear of the field.

Viktor Hovland turned his overnight two-shot lead into a four-shot win at the World Wide Technology Championship after a closing 4-under 67 secured victory with 23-under.

The Norwegian had powered into the lead after a brilliant 9-under 62 in round three and showed no let up in the final round.

Hovland, the defending champion, put his foot down with birdies at 5, 7, 9 and 11 to create daylight and could afford a couple of mistakes coming in.

He bogeyed 12 and 15 but further gains at 14 and 17 were enough to leave him four clear of local hero Carlos Ortiz.

The Mexican jumped up to second spot on 19-under with a bogey-free 66, while pre-tournament favourite Justin Thomas was solo third in 18-under following a 69.

With Scottie Scheffler a further shot back in fourth, it meant three of the top four contested the recent Ryder Cup in Wisconsin.

Hovland's 23-under gave him the 72-hole tournament record at Mayakoba and was his third win on the PGA Tour. He'd landed this title last year with 20-under.

The victory moved him from 17th to 10th in the world rankings.
He said: "It feels awesome. Obviously I felt like my game was in a good spot going into this week and I know this course fits my game really well.
"But there was some stuff that didn't quite go my way at the start of the week. It was nice to overcome those troubles."
That was a reference to cracking his driver on the range on Wednesday, meaning he had to borrow one from fellow pro James Hahn.
He added: "I was coming in with some high expectations, but obviously for it to end like this and win by four shots, it's been a cool week. Couldn't ask for it to go any different."
Talking about the final day and the build-up to it, the 24-year-old said: "I slept great, but I woke up really early this morning and I was pretty nervous and excited to get going.
"To be able to kind of sleep on the lead and go out in kind of the conditions early on today, because it was blowing pretty hard on the front nine.
"Frankly, I did not play well at all the front nine, but I was able to hang in there and make a lot of good putts.
"I was really happy to be able to just kind of pull off the round that I did today without having my best stuff."

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