Viktor Hovland Makes a ‘Frustrating’ Admission While Targeting a $4M Redemption: ‘Tough to Compete’

By this time last year, Viktor Hovland had four top-20 finishes. The WM Phoenix Open was also on his schedule, which he has missed this year. Hovland, though, wanted to tee up at more PGA Tour events, as he revealed last year. But that hasn’t gone according to plan and his game is to take the blame. The Norwegian admits this year, “being home and practicing, putting a lot of work in” has taken priority. 

While his putting problems once again raised their head, Hvoland is more frustrated about his overall performance. His swing is also bothering him, the reigning Tour Champion told the presspersons ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Hovland revealed he wanted to find the root cause at home rather than floundering on the course.

Viktor Hovland goes back to the basics

Hovland ranks 144 in SG: Approach to Green (-0.381) on the PGA Tour. The six-time PGA Tour winner has been losing half a stroke off the tee (SG: off the tee -0.546) compared to the field. He wanted to fix that before coming to Bay Hill.  “Yeah, it’s been a little bit frustrating so far this year. Feel like my swing hasn’t been quite as good as it has been in previous years… Just been prioritizing time at home and, yeah, just taking care of the fundamentals.”

Hovland’s lone top 20 came at the Genesis Invitational, where he tied for the 19th spot. However, it’s the mechanics that he has been focusing on. Not particularly the result on the leaderboard. “Obviously, you want to have good results, but when you’re seeing a shot and your swing is not producing those shots, it becomes very tough to compete, especially at this level. I think the results are just, obviously they’re not the best, but it’s like they reflect what you’re doing when things aren’t great.”

That has forced the World No. 4 to change his strategy. Hovland said the lack of confidence means, “You’re playing defensive golf instead of aggressive or confident. That’s basically what I just got to get back to.” At the limited field Genesis Invitational, Hovland ranked 34th in Putts per GIR, 29th in Greens in Regulation, and 41 in SG: Around the Green. That’s what he wants to change. The results will automatically follow, Hovland believes.

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“Then, whether I finished 5th or 10th or 20th, whatever it might be, that’s not the most important thing, the most important thing is that you see the shots that you’re hitting and you have belief that you’re going to do that repeatedly.” Hovland surprisingly parted ways with swing coach Joe Mayo, who improved his short game considerably last year. He has a new instructor by his side at Bay Hill.

Who is Hovland’s new swing coach?

The 2023 Tour Championship winner has roped in former PGAT Pro Grant Waite. Interestingly, Mayo introduced Hovland to the one-time PGA Tour winner. The Norwegian revealed that during their session together last year, Mayo called the Kiwi coach several times. “Joe would call a couple of guys, not too many—only the ones he trusted—and Grant was one of those guys. So that plus Grant having a player background, that makes him very trustworthy. You trust what he’s saying because he has the knowledge, the information, but also the background,” Hovland in the pre-match press conference.

Viktor Hovland will tee up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he notched two back-to-back top-ten finishes in the last two years, including a runner-up spot in 2022. The 2023 Tour Championship winner will tee off at 10.20 am EST paired with Rickie Fowler. $4 million in prize money and 700 FedEx Cup points are reserved for the winner.

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