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ORLANDO, Fla. – Viktor Hovland, in poker parlance, is a man on a heater. A runner-up on Sunday two hours downstate at the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession followed a tie for fifth at The Genesis Invitational, a runner-up showing at the Farmers Insurance Open, a win at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in December … well, you get the picture. If there’s anybody happier than Hovland as he readies to tee it up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard on Thursday, it could only be his banker.
Hovland, 23, is one of a handful of young guns who turned pro in 2019 poised to become part of the PGA TOUR’s Generation Next. Frankly, between Hovland, Collin Morikawa (last week’s WGC-Workday champion) and Matthew Wolff, it’s more like Generation Now. (Brandon Wu, who tied for seventh at last week’s Puerto Rico Open; Will Gordon (T3 at the 2020 Travelers Championship); and Justin Suh, progressing nicely through developmental tours, all hope to jump in soon.)
Hovland won the 2020 Puerto Rico Open in his 12th start as a professional, which, as crazy as it sounds, lagged behind Morikawa and Wolff, who’d already won by then. Hovland has the edge this season in the FedExCup standings (he ranks second, behind Patrick Cantlay), and in 54 weeks has risen from 100th in the world to 13th. Hovland has six finishes of T6 or better in his last seven worldwide starts, and 20 of his last 28 rounds have been in the 60s. Stand back. He is blowtorch hot.
As for growth? Hovland sees it everywhere he looks. His comfort level, his familiarity with TOUR courses – this week marks his third visit to Bay Hill – and his aggressive, green-light attitude are only a small part of something bigger.
“I feel like I’ve really changed as a player now compared to, let’s say, six months ago,” Hovland said. “Every single area of my game is, I would say, very, very different.
“I’m hitting it further. I’m not curving it as much left-to-right as I used to off the tee. I can hit my irons higher. I’m swinging it a little faster, so that helps out of the rough. My short game is better, I’m using more bounce, I can hit more shots. And putting, I can actually read putts consistently. Before it was just a guess.”
Hovland is the first PGA TOUR winner from Norway. Granted, Norway can be a fabulous place to cross-country ski, but it’s certainly no year-round golf hotbed. Viktor’s dad, Harald Hovland, was an engineer who, on work assignment in St. Louis years ago, decided to pull off the highway to stop in at a driving range and give the game a go.
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Source: PGA tour
