PALM HARBOR, Fla. — As exasperated as he was with the state of his game a week ago, making yet another coaching change and grinding through the various swing thoughts that threatened to derail him yet again, Viktor Hovland still found a way to smile.
Perhaps it is his Norwegian nature or simply the maturity that comes with the ups and downs of the pro game, but the fact that Hovland put himself in position on Sunday—forget winning—speaks volumes about his commitment to the craft.
Trailing Justin Thomas by three shots with three holes to play at the Valspar Championship, Hovland birdied the toughest hole on the course—hitting his approach to 6 feet at the 16th, the closest of any competitor—then added another birdie at the 17th to surge ahead and win for the first time since the 2023 Tour Championship.
MORE: Final results, payouts from the Valspar Championship
Even in victory, Hovland said his swing “is still not great” and that “the club is just not in a great place for me coming down” and yet “incredibly I did make it work and found a way to win without my best stuff.”
And as he said later: “I know I sound like a complete lunatic.”
Thomas might have sounded more upbeat in defeat than Hovland did in victory.
Looking to win for the first time since his 2022 PGA Championship title, Thomas lamented barely making the cut Friday, then shot 65-66 over the weekend. It was the lowest final 36 holes in tournament history and yet still wasn’t enough, as he bogeyed the 16th and 18th holes while Hovland birdied the 16th and 17th.
“I’ll take a lot of good,” said Thomas, who was trying for his 16th PGA Tour win. “Way, way more good than bad. I mean, today was awesome. I felt so comfortable. Really the only—I felt like the only nervy swing I truly felt was the wedge on 16 (after having to chip out). That was the only one I felt ... I was uncomfortable a little bit and kind of in the moment.
“But I rebounded really well with a nice bunker shot and a nice putt. One of my best swings of the day with a 5-iron on 17, and somehow that putt didn't go in on 17 as well. So I’m very, very proud of myself. It sucks not winning when you’re that close and have a great chance, but I just hopefully put myself in the same position in two weeks at Augusta (at the Masters) and finish it off better.”
For Hovland, 28, it’s been an arduous journey since he stamped himself among the game’s elite by winning the last two events of the 2023 PGA Tour season including the FedEx Cup.
He’s made no less than five instructor moves since then, curious decisions given his success just a short time earlier.
But clearly something was amiss. Hovland missed the cut in three major championships last year and had just two top 10s worldwide. He did finish third at the PGA Championship the same week he went back to the instructor, Joe Mayo, he had parted with earlier in the year—only to part ways with him again at the end of 2024.
The frustrations continued into this year. After tying for 36th at the season-opening Sentry in Hawaii, Hovland missed the cut at the DP World Tour event in Dubai, tied for 22nd at Pebble Beach and then missed consecutive cuts at the Genesis, Arnold Palmer and Players, where he shot a first-round 80.
Afterward, Hovland called former PGA Tour pro Grant Waite, whom he had worked with a year ago, and got him back to help. As late as Tuesday he wasn’t sure if he was still going to play the Valspar. As late as Wednesday, Hovland said he hit enough bad shots in the pro-am to have low expectations for the week. He felt his first-round 70 was fortunate.
And yet, Hovland was sitting with the trophy, his seventh on the PGA Tour.
“The last year and a half has been ... I know my golf game is not very good,” he said. “I know I have some issues, and just because you have one bad round of golf or one bad tournament you would like to think that, oh, O.K., 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. It’s tough to get excited to go and play because you just don’t feel like you have the confidence to succeed.”
Even at the turning point of the event—the par-4 16th hole—Hovland was far from feeling good.
Thomas had made his first bogey of the day—hitting a driver to the left that required him to chip out. Hovland hit a 3-iron into the fairway, setting up the 7-iron that got him a birdie to pull within one stroke.
When Hovland followed with a 12-foot birdie putt at the 17th, he led by one stroke. Thomas bogeyed the 18th in front of him to allow Hovland also a bogey and a one-stroke victory.
Hovland laughed telling a story afterward about how his mom always tells him not to fret because a lot of people played poorly. “It never consoles me,” he laughed.
And, of course, there was the honest, smiling admission.
“It’s still not great,” he said. “I’m still hitting the same shots that I have been the whole year, really. But it’s just I was able to time it extremely well this week. It felt like every single good shot that I hit I just saved it really well. Because the club is just not in a great place for me coming down. It’s just not what it used to be. So I can’t really rely on my old feels anymore because the club is in a different spot and I have to change my release pattern to make that work.
“Now, incredibly, I did make it work and was able to win and I think that is something that I’m extremely proud of that I can show up at a PGA Tour event at one of the hardest golf courses we play all year and still win with not my best stuff. So I think that’s really cool, that’s something that I’m extremely proud of, but at the same time it makes this game a lot more stressful than I think it should be.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Without My Best Stuff,’ Viktor Hovland Surprises Himself With Valspar Championship Win.
