The curious case of Viktor Hovland
Smiling Norwegian never stops searching for something; Stray Shots: Players and Jack
Despite all his successes, Viktor Hovland often feels lost in the woods (David Cannon/Getty Images)
Viktor Hovland is always smiling, and yet seemingly always unhappy.
The Norwegian golfer is a happy-go-lucky sort who enjoys what he is doing. But Hovland is always striving for more, never satisfied and often frustrated.
Take the one day he might have chosen to relax after playing and contending in last week’s Players Championship and prior to his title defense this week at the Valspar Championship.
Hovland, 28, went to work on Monday — having yet again switched swing coaches — in pursuit of whatever it is that is missing.
“I would like to take some Mondays off. I think my trainer would definitely want me to do that,” Hovland said Tuesday at the Innisbrook Resort, where he is defending his Valspar title this week on the Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Fla. “But it’s hard for me to take time off and relax when I don’t feel like I’m in a state where I feel like I deserve to take one.
“I feel like there’s some things — I have ideas in my head, always constantly trying to problem solve and see what works and if I have an idea, I want to just go out there and test it and see if it works. If it doesn’t, well, okay, how do we move on from there? So ideally, in a perfect world, if I was playing great golf I would probably take yesterday off and just relax. But that’s not where we’re at, so we’re going to have to go out there and practice.”
Hovland has seven PGA Tour victories (along with two on the DP World Tour) but just one since a standout 2023 season that saw him win twice during the FedEx Cup playoffs and capture the overall season title.
Then, Hovland seemed impervious to poor play. He starred for Europe at the Ryder Cup that year in Rome, Italy.
But 2024 came and went without a victory — and myriad changes with coaches and approaches. He missed the cut at three majors, but nearly won the PGA Championship — after reuniting with yet a different coach — before finishing third at Valhalla.
Even last year, when he won the Valspar, he didn’t seem quite right.
“I hit a lot of disgusting shots, but they just happened to go where I was looking,” he said afterward.
Earlier this year, Hovland was seen practicing with pool floaties on this arms at the Genesis Invitational. He recently parted ways with coach Grant Waite — whom he reunited with just before his Valspar win a year ago.
“It’s not like I have a theory behind it, but the game of golf is constantly evolving and there’s new challenges that arise all the time,” Hovland said. “I feel like I’m obviously a very curious person and there’s a lot of smart people out there. If I feel like there’s something missing or — and I obviously haven’t been very happy with the state of my game the last few years — I’m constantly searching to try to hear other perspectives that might resonate with me a little bit more.
“It’s not to say that … like I feel like every single person that I work with I’ve gotten good information, and I don’t seek out dumb people. I find the smartest people that I deem are out there, and I really listen to them and I’ve learned from a lot of them. But I obviously got to filter that information and make that applicable to myself. And there’s some information, some bits and pieces kind of resonate with me more than others, and then I kind of, that’s how I go about it and try to filter out the information the best that I can.”
Hovland is coming off consecutive T13 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players — where he was briefly tied for second after making eagle on the second hole on Sunday before fading. He tied for 10th at the WM Phoenix Open and late last year tied for sixth at the DP World India Championship.
He was third last year at the U.S. Open but has no victories since that Valspar win — which followed his last missed cut at the Players Championship.
“Yeah, it was a pretty special week, after having shot 80 the last week and really struggled with my game,” he said. “Kind of finding something at least in my iron game, and just being super patient throughout the week and heavily relying on my putter. I think my putter was really clutch there coming down the stretch particularly. And really just capitalizing on a few good iron shots coming down the stretch.”
Maybe another win this week will make Hovland happy, but probably not. But he’s sure to smile anyway.
