Despite finishing runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at the Tour Championship, Viktor Hovland still managed to turn heads at East Lake. Just not for the reason fans might expect.
Following Sunday’s final round, a video of Hovland’s bunker shot on the 13th hole went viral. The shot itself wasn’t the story. Instead, viewers focused on what happened just before Hovland struck the ball. Immediately, a debate started over and whether he should have been assessed a two-stroke penalty.
Victor Hovland Turns Heads
Hovland found himself in a green side bunker on the par-4 13th during Sunday’s final round. While he eventually walked away with a bogey, a slow-motion replay raised questions about whether the result should have been much worse.
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The replay appeared to show Hovland’s wedge getting extremely close to the sand behind his ball before he played his shot. That immediately brought USGA Rule 12.2b into the conversation.
The rule applies specifically to bunkers and prohibits a player from touching the sand with a club before making a stroke. Among other things, players cannot touch the sand with their club in the area in front of or behind the ball. This includes during a practice swing and during the backswing.
A violation of the rule comes with a two-stroke penalty. If officials had determined that Hovland’s club had touched the sand, the penalty would have dropped him from a 13-under to an 11-under, and would have seriously impacted his final position on the leaderboard, and his payday.
Instead of finishing solo second and earning $5 million, Hovland would have fallen to a crowded third place finish, and seen a $1.9 million payday. A move Golf.com called a $3 million ruling.
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However, since the footage went live, PGA Tour rules official Mark Dusbabek said that it doesn’t appear that Hovland did anything wrong.
The decision has since sparked plenty of debate among golf fans, particularly because slow-motion footage makes it difficult to tell what really happened. Still, the Tour’s ruling was clear that it was not a penalty, no matter what the internet might say, and Hovland gets to keep his 13-under and $5 million payday.
Whats Next for Viktor?
While the bunker controversy may have followed Hovland out of East Lake, the 28-year-old is already looking toward the future.
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And despite falling short of Scheffler on Sunday, Hovland left the Tour Championship believing there is still plenty more to unlock in his game.
“When we talk about my ceiling, I didn’t feel like I was anywhere close to it,” said Hovland in an interview with Paul Hodowanic. “If I just had my normal game, my normal ball striking from the previous years, I think I take away this tournament,” he added.
That confidence could be key heading into the offseason.
Hovland recently reunited with swing coach Joe Mayo, who worked with him during the 2023 season, Hovland’s most successful season on Tour that saw him win the BMW Championship and Tour Championship back-to-back while reaching a career-best No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
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Now, Hovland is hoping to get back to the version of himself that produced those results.
“I’ve deviated so far off of my original DNA, I would like to push that closer to my DNA,” Hovland said. “We’ll see kind of how difficult that is.”
If he and Mayo can work together to rediscover the ball-striking Hovland wants to see, his 2027 season could see him return, and possibly surpass, his previous accomplishments.
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