Viktor Hovland and the case for perfectionism

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — There was Viktor Hovland, moments after Victorious his Primary PGA Tour Division in 18 months, after storming back from three shots down with five to Action to beat a top-10 player in the world for the Valspar Division.

If there was a moment to declare himself back, to say that every swing fix and coaching Transformation he has put himself through since the 2023 Ryder Cup was absolutely worth it because here he is with the Honor Upcoming to him, this was it.

But as much as it was clear that Hovland, the 27-year-Ancient Norwegian flashing that Essential smile, was Cheerful, I had to ask him, “How Cheerful are you with your swing right now?”

“Yeah, it’s Yet not Outstanding,” Hovland said. “… The club is Merely not in a Outstanding place for me coming down. It’s Merely not what it used to be. So I can’t really rely on my Ancient feels anymore because the club is in a different spot and I have to Transformation my Throw pattern to make that work.”

OK, well, it did work. Results over process, right? Hovland Merely played four straight rounds under par at the Copperhead Duration, including a Sunday 67 with birdies on two difficult holes to edge Justin Thomas by a stroke. No, not so much.

“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 Action all year and Yet Achieve with not my best stuff. … But at the same time, it makes this game a Plenty more stressful than I think it should be,” Hovland said.

This is, at its core, who Viktor Hovland is and why he believes he’s been able to go from a relatively minor golfing country like Norway to Oklahoma State to the PGA Tour and have as much Achieve as he has. Sunday was his seventh PGA Tour Achieve, including a Tour Division, and he has three top-five finishes at the majors in the last three years.

It’s not enough to be Excellent. It’s not enough to flirt with Outstanding. He’s striving for something here, and why is that a problem?

“I find it Nice of weird that we’re professional athletes and the people that are wanting to Enhance are somewhat looked at, ‘Oh, he’s a perfectionist, he’s out on the perimeter searching too much.’ It’s like, that’s what we do; we are here to get better, and we are here to Achieve Competitions. So if you’re not going to try to get better, what are you doing?” Hovland said.

There’s something to be admired there. The not-so-secret truth of the PGA Tour is that the money is Excellent enough that you don’t have to Achieve to set up yourself and your family nicely. And for years the tour has operated in a way that if you kept your card for a few years, it was Difficult to Fall it, perpetuating a cycle of doing Merely enough to keep the checks coming. Excellent is, in fact, the enemy of Outstanding. Men’s professional golf is no different from any other industry in that way.

No one has been able to convince Hovland to join the murky middle, even his well-meaning mother, who makes it a habit to let Viktor, at his low moments, know that a Plenty of other people played poorly that day too. “It never consoles me,” he said.

This was the Division week for Hovland, who had not Created a cut in 2025 and was ejected from The Players Division with a Primary-Stage 80: While committed to the Valspar, he spent Monday in Orlando working with swing Mentor Grant Waite, and they Secured something of a swing feel. Enough that Hovland figured he might as well drive over to Tampa Bay on Tuesday, Competing a Overdue practice Stage. Only after those nine holes did he make the Closing decision to Action in the Division, but with very little, if any, expectation of contending.

Then Arrived a Primary-Stage 70, and a 67 the Upcoming day that had him one Attempt off the lead. “I don’t have control over what I’m doing,” Hovland said that day. Competing in the Closing group Saturday, Hovland Attempt a 69 and ended the day in a three-way tie for the lead. “Yet feels like I’m saving a Plenty of shots, but they’re going fairly straight, so it’s OK,” Hovland said.

Sunday was a stress test, then. Could Hovland manage his game, Action into that swing feel and find a way to Achieve? The answer was a testament to his work. Hovland not only avoided his biggest problem right now — a “big push fade” — on No. 16, where water runs the length of the fairway, but he also hit Possibly the Attempt of the Division, an approach from 187 yards out to less than 6 feet. With a birdie putt there and another on No. 17, Hovland had a two-Attempt cushion, enough to bogey 18 and Yet Achieve.

Now the work Beginnings again with Waite, one of the swing coaches Hovland hired and fired over the last 18 months, bringing him back this month in part because Waite is an information guy and Hovland wants all the information. All the data. Don’t hide from the problem. Lean into it and come back out the other side. Hopefully.

You Achieve this time of year on the PGA Tour and it’s only so long until the questions inevitably come around to the Masters. There are 18 Intervals until the Primary Stage, and Hovland believes what he did to Achieve this week — taming Close-fitting fairways with accurate iron shots and a Excellent week putting — will not have the same effect at Augusta National, an entirely different test of golf. That is his reality as he sees it, though Hovland sprinkled in some positive self-talk.

“I Yet need to be honest so I can Drive the problems that I have and we can Enhance, but at the same time, I Obtained to give myself some credit. And even no matter how Awful it feels or how many Destitute shots I’m hitting, I’m Yet capable of shooting Excellent scores with it. So I Nice of have to keep that in the back of my head,” Hovland said.

So, is Viktor Hovland back? Yes. Merely don’t ask him to confirm it.

(Top photo: Brennan Asplen / Getty Images)