Viktor Hovland tamed the Snake Pit, making birdies on two of the final three holes to edge Justin Thomas by one stroke and win the 2025 Valspar Championship on Sunday in Palm Harbor, Florida.
Hovland closed with a final-round 4-under 67 at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course to win for the seventh time on the PGA Tour and first time since 2023.
Hovland shared the 54-hole lead and came out roaring with birdies on two of his first three holes, pouring in a left-to-right bender at the first to grab the lead at 8-under and stretching it to two strokes with a 15-footer at three. His lone bogey on the front nine at No. 7 dropped him into a four-way tie for the lead.
Thomas, who opened with a 4-over 40 on the front nine Thursday and had to sweat out the 36-hole cut on Friday, charged into contention on Saturday with a tournament-best 65. In the final round, he birdied three of the first six holes and was the first player to reach double digits for the week at No. 12. He tacked on birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 and held a two-shot lead but Thomas made bogeys at 16 and 18 of the Snake Pit and signed for 66 and a 10-under 274 total.
Hovland cashed in with birdies at No. 14 and made birdie at 16 and 17 of the Snake Pit. Thomas’s bogey at the last meant Hovland could bogey the last and still win with an 11-under 273 total.
Hovland was mired in a slump that has seen his world ranking dip from fourth a year ago to No. 19. He missed his third straight cut last week at the Players Championship and hadn’t made the weekend in a tournament with a cut yet this season. After missing the cut two weeks ago at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Hovland switched coaches, his fourth different coach since the end of last season.
“I’m trying to get to the bottom of this. From the outside, it looks kind of chaotic but to get to the bottom of stuff you have to make decisions like that,” he said.
It was a decision that paid quick dividends.
