Troon Privé, June/July 2019

36 TROON PRIVÉ MAGAZINE TROON PRIVÉ MAGAZINE 37 BIG STAGE NO FEAR sponsored by This article originally appeared in Golfweek Check out more articles at www Golfweek com Turns out the intel Ortiz received from the gallery was incorrect Victor Hovland playing several groups ahead had also bogeyed his final hole to finish at 3 under 285 for the tournament Hovland a 21 year old who won the 2018 U S Amateur was the first Norwegian to ever qualify for the Masters He shared 32nd place thanks to three consecutive rounds of 71 He was encouraged by the fact that his average every day game yielded such a strong finish It will be exciting to see what I can do if Im playing really well he said Ortiz took the strategy misfire in stride At the end of the day he said its a trophy and it really doesnt matter Coming out here today and Sunday with these tough conditions and shooting 69 tells me a lot about my game The Latin American Amateur champ planned to turn professional immediately after the Masters and hopes to land some exemptions in the near future Alvaro Ortiz came to his 72nd hole at Augusta National believing he needed a birdie to take a share of low amateur honors After a solid strike off the tee Ortiz took an aggressive line to the flagstick on the ninth hole his group started on No 10 that day due to weather concerns and dumped it in the bunker He made bogey to miss out on the Silver Cup by a stroke By Beth Ann Nichols Golfweek VIKTOR HOVLAND WINS SILVER CUP IN MASTERS DEBUT Ill play anywhere he said Im not picky at all This marked the first time in 30 years that four amateurs made the cut UCLAs Devon Bling runner up to Hovland at last years amateur shot 73 to take a share of 55th Japans Takumi Kanaya ballooned to a final round 78 10 strokes worse than Saturdays score to finish T 58 Hovland who plays for the No 1 ranked college team in the country Oklahoma State had head coach Alan Bratton on the bag all week It marked Brattons third time caddying at the Masters He also looped for former Cowboys Peter Uihlein and Jordan Niebrugge Hovland played Augusta National with seven different major champions this week including Sergio Garcia on Monday and Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka on Wednesday On Tuesday Bratton arranged a last minute back nine walk with Bernhard Langer that proved especially educational Bratton said the ageless German almost holed STARS OF TOMORROW four iron shots on the back nine Victor learned a lot said Bratton and had a newfound respect for some of the older pros Hovland won the U S Amateur at Pebble Beach last summer where the U S Open returns in June The college junior didnt reveal any future plans after HOVLAND WHO PLAYS FOR THE NO 1 RANKED COLLEGE TEAM IN THE COUNTRY OKLAHOMA STATE HAD HEAD COACH ALAN BRATTON ON THE BAG WEEK IT MARKED BRATTONS THIRD TIME CADDYING AT THE MASTERS HE ALSO LOOPED FOR FORMER COWBOYS PETER UIHLEIN AND JORDAN NIEBRUGGE the NCAA postseason Asked what it is about Hovland that impresses the most Bratton said His misses are really tight super disciplined knows how to control his ball and hes not overwhelmed by the stage Attributes that were in abundance in his Masters debut