The Punter's De-brief: Happy Hovland back to winning ways

• Thomas trades at long odds-on before late stumble

• Read my Indian Open preview here

• Read my Houston Open preview here

• The Masters starts on April 10. Read Dave Tindall's guide to the 2025 Masters here!

With 24 players separated by just four strokes after three rounds at the Valspar Championship, we looked set for a bunched finish around the Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort. After one of the three 54-hole co-leaders, Viktor Hovland, had bogeyed the seventh hole, we had a four-way tie at the top but the finish only really concerned two of the game's greats.

Hovland had edged ahead of the field early on with birdies at one and three but once the Norwegian had been caught, it was pre-event 24.023/1 chance Justin Thomas who took the contest by the scruff of the neck with a run of four birdies in five from the 11^th hole.

Thomas was matched at a low of 1.132/15 when he led by three after his birdie at the 15^th , although his lead was soon cut to two when Hovland birdied the par five 14th from just inside 13 feet.

Thomas looked far and away the most likely winner as he stood on the 16^th tee but, not for the first time, the infamous three-hole stretch known as the Snake Pit proved pivotal.

After a poor drive on 16, Thomas had no choice but to chip out from the trees to the left of the fairway. He eventually holed out for a bogey five. Hovland hit this brilliant approach on the same hole after taking an iron off the tee for safety.  

22 minutes ago Viktor Hovland was 3 back.

Now he's tied for the lead after making birdie on the toughest hole on the course @ValsparChamp.

NBC pic.twitter.com/s90NeEIQAH

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 23, 2025

Thomas' birdie putt on the par three 17^th caught the edge of the hole but stayed above ground. He missed the fairway on the 18^th hole, and before he could play his second shot, Hovland rolled in his birdie putt on the 17^th from 12 feet to hit the front again.

After hearing the roars from 17 that followed Hovland's two, Thomas' approach found the large bunker in front of the green on 18 from where he failed to get-up-and-down for par. That was the end of his challenge.

Hovland had missed the fairway right on the 72^nd hole but, after Thomas' bogey, he could afford to drop a shot himself to win by one.

Having begun the event trading at around 75.074/1, it was the Norwegian's first victory since the 2023 Tour Championship, and having been matched at as high as 180.0179/1, he's now a 36.035/1 chance to win the US Masters next month.

Mansell off the mark

The first two winners of the Singapore Classic had begun the final round outside the top 10 places. After a run of five straight birdies from the fourth hole, however, pre-event 70.069/1 chance Richard Mansell, who had begun the third and final round one off the lead, tied for second with four others. Trading at 8/19.00, Mansell led by two over Japan's Keita Nakajima. Nobody else really got a look in after that.

Trailing the surprise leader, Dan Erickson, by three in a tie for 10^th, Nakajima, who defends his Indian Open title this week, had begun the final round trading at 28.027/1. But he was matched at just 2.226/5 when tied for the lead with Mansell after he'd birdied the par five 13^th.

Moments after Nakajima missed his birdie putt at the par five 14^th, Mansell looked like he might be in trouble on the 13^th when his second shot flew left of the green. It was difficult to see where the ball had landed, and it looked like it may have finished down a steep bank. But it had held up in the rough, from where he made a brilliant up-and-down to retake the outright lead.

After a fabulous approach shot, Mansell missed a three-foot putt on the par four 15^th to extend his lead to two and when Nakajima birdied the last to draw back alongside the Englishman, who hadn't finished inside the top 10 on the DP World Tour since August, the Japanese looked in good shape.

To Mansell's credit, he put the horrible, pushed putt on 15 behind him to par 16 and 17. He bagged his first title in his 103^rd starts with a quite brilliant two-putt birdie at the par five finishing hole from around 100 feet.

The moment @richardmansel14 claimed his maiden DP World Tour win in his 103rd appearance #PorscheSingaporeClassic pic.twitter.com/D8dZWPONPM

-- DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 23, 2025

It was a brilliant ending and a remarkable way to secure victory.  

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

Read more golf tips, previews and analysis here