ATLANTA — Viktor Hovland appeared in control for the bulk of the final round, which was hampered by bad weather.
If there was a nervous moment, it happened on the 14th hole at East Lake as he tried to drive the demons away.
Hovland has been upfront and humble about his chipping problems, admitting a few years back that "I suck" with shots close to the green.
Then there he was, trailing Xander Schauffele by three strokes, and he botched a rather easy pitch shot while wailing loudly.
Hovland faced a 22-foot par putt and the possibility of just holding a two-shot lead with four holes remaining after his shot from 100 feet covered less than 80 yards.
As a result, Hovland took the initiative and calmly rolled in the par putt to maintain his three-shot lead before birdying the final three holes to win by five strokes.
In summary, Hovland said, "I feel like obviously my short game has improved massively over the course of the year, course management has been a big deal,
I am not short-siding myself as much as I used to, and just handling adversity a lot better because I believe in my game and if I hit one bad shot or make one mistake it is not the end of the world."