"I try to just stick to the game plan" - Viktor Hovland shares his mindset ahead of 2023 Tour Championship's Final Round   

Norwegian golfer Viktor Hovland is closing in on the back-to-back PGA Tour victory. He won the BMW Championship last week and continued to dominate the star-packed field of the Tour Championship.

He took the lead in the tournament after the second round and extended it on Saturday after shooting a round of 66. He will enter the final round with a lead of six strokes over Xander Schauffele.

Viktor Hovland had a clear mindset to stick to his game plan and increase the lead as much as possible. He discussed his outstanding performance at the 2023 Tour Championship and his attitude going into the final on Sunday in a conversation with Todd Lewis of the Golf Channel.

"Usually when you come in from behind you chase more than when you're in the lead," Viktor said. "You have to defend more plans. I will try to just try to stick to the game plan and my game plan was to try to increase the lead, try to lead by as many as possible going into tomorrow because there is a lot of hungry and good players behind me who can easily shoot 61 tomorrow. So, I gotta be ready."

He went on to talk about his last few weeks' performances, saying:

"I feel like I've been a little bit too hard on myself for the last couple of weeks. When things don't feel absolutely perfect, I let it drag me down a little bit, like this week or the last three weeks I've done a good job."

It is important to note that Viktor Hovland played three rounds of 68-64-66 at the Tour Championship to maintain the lead. The final round of the tournament will take place on Sunday, August 27 and the winner of the event will receive a check of $18 million.

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Viktor Hovland's performance at the 2023 Tour Championship

Hovland started playing at the Tour Championship on Thursday, August 24. He carded birdies on the 10th and 11th hole to settle for a score of 68. In the second round, he made a birdie on the fourth hole followed by another birdie on the sixth and a bogey on the seventh.

Hovland made two birdies and one bogey on the front nine on Friday and four consecutive birdies on the back nine. He made seven birdies and one bogey in the second round to settle for a score of 64.

He started the third round with two birdies on the sixth and seventh holes and added three more birdies on the back nine to settle for a score of 66.

Xander Schauffele secured the second spot on the leaderboard followed by Collin Morikawa and Keegan Bradley. Wyndham Clark finished in a three-way tie for fifth place with Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm. Rory McIlroy tied for eighth position with Adam Schenk and Patrick Cantlay.

Viktor Hovland will start the fourth round of the Tour Championship on Sunday at 1:40 p.m. ET with Xander Schauffele.