Viktor Hovland wasn’t sure he’d play the Valspar Championship, even after committing last Friday.
When he decided to compete, he surely wasn’t expecting to win.
And yet, here we are.
Hovland, mired in a swing slump for over a year and still searching for the feels he once had, suppressed his frustrations enough – for a few days at least – to outduel Justin Thomas for a one-shot victory on one of the PGA Tour’s most penal tests. Hovland’s surprise win Sunday at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course marked his first worldwide title since he captured the BMW Championship and Tour Championship in back-to-back weeks in August 2023.
“It’s unbelievable to see that I could win because I honestly did not believe that I could do it this week,” a pleasantly surprised Hovland told Golf Channel’s Kira K. Dixon just moments after bogeying his final hole to shoot 4-under 67 and finish 11 under for the tournament.
Just 10 days earlier, Hovland was opening The Players in 80 strokes. He missed the cut the following day, his third straight weekend off, continuing what has been the worst stretch of the 27-year-old’s professional career.
Hovland’s struggles began at the end of 2023, the same year that he won the FedExCup, finished runner-up at the DP World Tour’s finale and went 3-1-1 at the Ryder Cup in Rome. His swing didn’t feel right, and his results last season affirmed Hovland’s concerns; he posted just two top-10s, though both were top-3s – a solo third at the PGA Championship, and later a T-2 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Hovland arrived at Kapalua at the start of this year ranked eighth in the world. Following missed cuts at some of the PGA Tour’s premier events, the Genesis, API and Players, he had fallen to No. 19, his worst standing since the end of 2020.
He’d missed cuts before, but this slump had been markedly different.
Insecurities and doubts had robbed him of his confidence.
“The last year and a half has been, OK, I know my golf game is not very good, 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, OK, next week is another week, you’ll figure it out,” Hovland said. “But when the problems remain and linger, you don’t become more hopeful; it’s like you keep drowning and you’re running out of air.”
As he plummeted from fifth in strokes gained: tee-to-green in 2022-23 to 53rd last season to 98th so far this year, Hovland went through swing coaches like a bag of potato chips – at least five, and some for two separate stints. He returned to his college instructor, Denny Lucas, before Bay Hill, but after missing the cut, they parted ways, and Hovland quickly pivoted to another former coach, Grant Waite, with whom he spent a few days in Orlando following his early Players exit.
“I really trust Grant because he sees it and knows what kind of matchups need to be there for it to work,” Hovland said. “Yeah, it was obviously a good first week together, so hopefully just build on that.”
Here’s what the players who made the cut will earn at the Valspar Championship.
According to Hovland, there’s still much work to be done with his swing, particularly his downswing and release pattern. He wants a sustainable motion, and he’s not there yet. Sure, he hit some great shots, especially down the stretch, but his high-right miss was still there; he just timed them well.
“It’s still the same swing,” Hovland said with a laugh. “Like I hit a lot of disgusting shots, but they just happen to go where I look.”
In some ways, Hovland is right. The Copperhead Course and its emphasis on precision over length allowed Hovland to mask his problems and lean more on his irons, which have been more reliable than his woods. For instance, the tee shot at the par-4 16th hole would normally set up well for a low, pull-cut with driver, but Hovland’s push-fade miss would certainly end up wet. So, he hit 3-wood each of the first three days, tugging it each time and only finding the fairway once thanks to a strong left-to-right wind. Then on Sunday, with an up tee and the hole playing downwind, Hovland was able to hit 3-iron. A perfect 7-iron to 5 feet and one putt later and Hovland’s birdie tied him with Thomas. Hovland birdied the next hole, too, and after Thomas dropped another shot at the par-4 18th, it mattered little that Hovland missed the fairway badly right and had to scramble for a good bogey.
Highlights: Valspar Championship, Round 4
Watch the best shots and moments from the fourth round of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship from the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort.
After he tapped in, all but assuring himself a drought-ending victory, Hovland’s smile was a mile wide as he walked off the green, his caddie Shay Knight’s arm around him. While Hovland’s swing is still a work in progress, perhaps the young Norwegian, a perfectionist by most accounts, will glean something else from this week.
Not only does Hovland’s swing not have to be perfect for him to win; it doesn’t have to be particularly close, either.
“I probably shouldn’t doubt myself to that extent,” Hovland said. “I still need to be honest so I can attack the problems that I have and we can improve, but at the same time I got to give myself some credit and even no matter how bad it feels or how many poor shots I’m hitting, I’m still capable of shooting good scores with it, so I kind of have to keep that in the back of my head.”
Then the realist kicked in.
Asked about the Masters, just three weeks away, Hovland didn’t sugarcoat his response:
“Some of the shots that I’m hitting, it’s going to make it really difficult for me to be in contention at Augusta if I don’t rectify that problem.”
He’s sure of that.
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