Is Victor Hovland pushing through the pain? After a T31 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Hovland is teeing up at the TPC Sawgrass where he tied for the second spot last year. But the six-time PGA Tour winner was spotted with a tape wrapped up around his wrist in the opening round.

Christopher Powers of Golf Digest tweeted, “Viktor Hovland’s wrist taped up on Thursday at The Players.” Notably, Hovland didn’t speak of any injuries ahead of the pre-match post-conference. But the 26-year-old has previously talked about wrist pain before withdrawing from the WM Phoenix Open. In fact, the Norwegian also taped up his wrist at the range for a week prior. 

Although the WMPO withdrawal was purely due to a tactical reason – he wanted to focus on his short game – this time, the taped-up wrist raises the question of whether some kind of niggling pain is the reason behind his struggle on the course. Notably, Hovland hasn’t suffered any major injuries so far in his PGA Tour career. The only outlier was a bizarre eye injury at the 2021 U.S. Open. Sand got into his eye, forcing him to pull out during the second round of the Tournament. 

The taped-up wrist can also be a precautionary measure to prevent any injury or soreness, as some point out in response to Powers. Hovland has been grinding on the greens with his putting coach, Grant Waite,  The 26-year-old parted ways with Joe Mayo in January, roping in Waiter to eradicate the only short-coming in his game. 

Viktor Hovland has tried many things to end his short-game nightmare

Hovland ranks 121st in the Tour in SG: Approach to Green (-0.156). His greens-in-regulation percentage (68.15%) puts him at the 105th spot in the PGA Tour. However, none of this is new to him. Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Hovland said, “I know I struggle with chipping, like I don’t have to keep that a secret because it’s all out there, everyone can see… It’s like, no, I just want to improve for myself and I go about my business. I’m pretty open about it, I’m not trying to hide it, because it’s all out there for everyone to see. I keep working on it.”

At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Hovland made only 15 birdies through 72 holes. In strokes gained: around the green, Hovland ranked 58th in the 69-man field. But the Norwegian believes he can change things around. “I know I can fix these things, because I have shown it. In the last year I was chipping it great and was making some huge strides. Yeah, you guys can keep asking about it, but I keep working on it and trying to fix it.”

Hovland, as of the moment the report went to publication, is 1-under through the tenth hole. The Norwegian, starting, on the back nine, made three birdies and two bogeys so far.  Hovland was paired with Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.

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