The mental battle is just as tough as anything on the course. Viktor Hovland’s last victory came back in 2023 at the Tour Championship, and since then, it’s been nothing but frustration. In 2024 alone, he played six events, missed the cut in three, and even when he did make it through, his best finish was T22 at Pebble Beach. That’s not just a slump—that’s a full-on crisis. Even his caddie, Shay Knight, says that Hovland is always scrutinizing himself, “He’s very hard on himself, but he is a perfectionist.” 

At Copperhead, Hovland identified a swing feel that reminded him of his early days as a pro, shared Knight. He parlayed that feel to strong ball-striking numbers (19th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee; sixth in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green) – and to his seventh PGA TOUR title. It worked, all in his favor, and Viktor Hovland is back in the winner’s circle!

“He’s really hard on himself, but as soon as he finds some little swing cue, thought, he tends to take it on board, and it happens really fast. He had that swing thought, and it just seemed to click; I knew something special was going to happen this week with the swing thought. It was something small that he used to do back in the day, but he’s kind of got away from it with the speed training that he’s done in the past, and everything. He had that swing thought and ran with it … He’s a confident player. When he has that confidence, he can beat anybody, and that’s what he’s done this week,” said Knight.

Hovland shot a 4-under 67 to finish at 11-under, edging out Justin Thomas, who had statistical favor over the Norwegian, by a shot and taking home $1.56 million. You know what? He needed this one. Genuinely. For Hovland, this win was about something far bigger than money. It was about finally seeing the light after what felt like an endless stretch of struggle. A week ago, at the PLAYERS, he wasn’t even thinking about winning. He was just trying to figure out where it all went wrong.

“I love that golf course, I love that place, and I generally play pretty well in Florida,” he said about TPC Sawgrass. And yet, all he could manage was a disastrous 80, missing the cut and heading home early. That’s brutal for any player, but especially for someone who knows they’re capable of so much more. And that’s the thing—this wasn’t just one bad week; this had been building for nearly two years.

“Obviously missing cuts is never fun, but just I mean I missed cuts before and felt like my game has been okay and I still feel like the next week I could win the tournament.” But this time, things were different. He wasn’t just missing cuts—his confidence was slipping. He revealed how things have been for him after his win. “I know I have some issue, and just because you have one bad round of golf or one bad tournament you would like to think that, oh, okay, next week is another week, you’ll figure it out. But when the problems remain and linger it doesn’t really give you — you don’t become more hopeful, it’s like you keep drowning and you’re running out of air,” he said.

This week, things were right, they clicked. Right from the start, he looked sharp, like the player everyone knew he could be. And when the moment came, he didn’t let it slip.

Hovland has always been aware of his situation

Hovland wasted no time proving the talent that once made him one of the most promising players on the Tour. He started strong with rounds of 70 and 67, climbing to 5-under par. But heading into Sunday, tied for the lead with Justin Thomas, it looked like he might fall short again.

He began two shots back but quickly turned the momentum in his favor, birdieing seven of his first 15 holes to take the lead. In the end, Thomas’s costly bogeys at 16 and 18, combined with Hovland’s clutch back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17, sealed the deal. But even before this, Hovland knew where he stood.

After the second round, he didn’t sugarcoat things. “Yeah, it s****,” he admitted to reporters, as Golf Magic reported. The past few months had tested him, and the doubt had crept in. “You start thinking things you’ve never thought before, and this game becomes infinitely more challenging, and it’s already really challenging.”

Still, he never let up on himself—because that’s not who he is. “I am hard on myself, yeah, but that’s also why I’m good. If I wasn’t hard on myself, I probably wouldn’t be out here.” That mindset has carried him through the rough patches, and now, it’s brought him back to winning.

For Hovland, this wasn’t just another title—it was a turning point. And if this win is any sign, he’s not stopping here.