Viktor Hovland may not have been in contention at this week’s BMW Championship, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t hit any meaningful shots on Sunday.
After holing out from a greenside bunker for birdie at the first, Hovland stepped up on the 206-yard par-3 second with a 6-iron in his hands. His tee shot took a couple hops before slamming into the flagstick and falling to the bottom of the cup for the first ace of this year’s FedExCup Playoffs.
Viktor Hovland started hot this morning at the #BMWChampionship. After holing a greenside bunker shot at the first, he made an ace at No. 2 to start 3 under through two holes without taking the headcover off the putter.
— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) August 21, 2022
pic.twitter.com/Iikm0c3d48
“Hit a perfect 6-iron on 2 that happened to go in the hole, so it was a nice start to the day,” Hovland said after his round.
A nice start to his day made someone else’s day, as the BMW Championship benefits the Evans Scholars Foundation, which provides college tuition and housing scholarships to hardworking young caddies with financial needs and a strong academic record.
Full-field scores from BMW Championship
There is a hole-in-one challenge every year at the BMW that awards a lucky student with a four-year, $125,000 scholarship if a player makes an ace.
“That’s incredible,” Hovland said. “The hole-in-one obviously was nice for me, and while it didn’t move me up the leaderboard that much, for it to actually mean something is really cool. I hope that goes a long way.”
BMW has now awarded six hole-in-one scholarships and contributed more than $40 million to the Evans Scholars Foundation since 2007.