PGA Tour: Did Viktor Hovland actually win the Tour Championship?

Viktor Hovland capped off a ridiculous (and highly lucrative) two-week stretch of golf on Sunday evening at the Tour Championship by capturing the first of what will likely be many FedEx Cup titles.

Coming off a victory at the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields, where he shot a course-record 61 in the final round to claim his fifth PGA Tour title, the 24-year-old began the Tour Championship in second place in the FedEx Cup standings, putting him just two shots behind top-seeded Scottie Scheffler under the staggered-stroke format.

But while Scheffler struggled to make anything happen on the par-70 layout at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club, shooting just 1-under for the week, Hovland caught fire in the Georgia heat. After opening the tournament with a 2-under 68, the Norwegian superstar shot 64-66 over the next two days to give himself a six-shot lead heading into the final round.

A year ago, Scheffler had the same six-shot advantage with 18 holes to play and blew it, losing by a stroke to a red-hot Rory McIlroy. But Viktor Hovland had no such collapse during Sunday's final round, which was delayed a touch due to inclement weather.

Playing alongside Xander Schauffele, who had yet another great week at the Tour Championship, Hovland kept his foot on the gas all day and closed things out with a 7-under 63 to finish at 27-under.

That was five shots clear of Schauffele, who bested his playing partner for the low round of the day with an 8-under 62 to finish at 22-under.

With the win, Hovland became just the fifth player since the FedEx Cup was introduced to win both the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship. The victory also earned Hovland a hefty $18 million paycheck and a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour. Add that cash to the money he'd already won this season, and Hovland closes out the 2022-23 campaign having made more than $32 million.

What the official Tour Championship leaderboard looked like following Viktor Hovland's victory

But with the staggered-stroke format, which the PGA Tour implemented in 2019, did Viktor Hovland actually win the Tour Championship? Before we get to that, let's take a quick look at how the official leaderboard looked at the conclusion of Sunday's play.

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Now, let's take the staggered-stroke format out of play. In this scenario, which actually was important as the player with the lowest 72-hole score receives the most Official World Golf Ranking points, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele would have gone to a playoff as both shot a 19-under 261.

What the true Tour Championship leaderboard looked like

Given how well both played on Sunday, shooting the two lowest rounds of the day, a sudden-death playoff to decide the FedEx Cup would have been absolutely phenomenal. Here's how the true Tour Championship leaderboard played out.