Viktor Hovland chose the far end of the range, a rare secluded spot in TPC Sawgrass’ superb practice facilities, where few spectators could pry.
It was the week of the Players Championship last March. The Norwegian had already made a steady start to the year, one that would eventually turn spectacular, under the watchful eye of his unorthodox and new coach, Joseph Mayo.
Hovland had finished in a share of 10th the week before at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his first top-10 of 2023. This was the biggest week of the year to date and he was grinding, hitting shot after shot from a bunker to the practice green.
The coaching appeared rudimentary. Wandering by, I observed talk in mere fundamentals – stance, ball position, strike points.
Hovland was a study of concentration, taking in every ounce of advice coming from his teacher – a former professional poker player who came into coaching via selling golf launch monitors.
That week at Sawgrass Hovland finished joint third. Then he was second to Brooks Koepka at May’s US PGA Championship at Oak Hill before a breakthrough PGA Tour triumph at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial tournament in Ohio a fortnight later.
This was a first PGA Tour win on American soil, the previous three had come in Puerto Rico and Mexico. He won scoring seven under par at Muirfield Village, a first triumph on a genuinely penal layout.
Four months on, he can now boast victory in the season-long FedEx Cup, shooting the joint lowest aggregate score with East Lake specialist Xander Schauffele at the Tour Championship in Atlanta. This triumph came a week after victory in the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields, the venue of the 2003 US Open.
The new world number four has banked a record $34.5m (£27.4m) in prize money in 2023 and will take his place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team next month as arguably the hottest player on the planet.
His past 11 rounds rounds have all been in the 60’s; 64, 65, 69, 69, 68, 65, 61, 68, 64, 66, 63. He is a combined 46 under par for the concluding three PGA Tour play-off events.
No one can score like that without wonderful wedges, yet this is a golfer who for much of his professional career chipped like a rank amateur.
“Before, when I was standing over every shot, I was like, ‘don’t duff it, skull it, don’t leave it in the bunker’,” Hovland recently admitted. “Me and a buddy of mine, we made up this saying: Just land it on and keep it on. We set the bar pretty low when we had a chip.”
Hovland began working with Mayo at the start of this year and also uses European Ryder Cup vice-captain Edoardo Molinari as a performance coach. The Italian is a stats guru and they quickly identified tactical flaws in the Norwegian’s game.
Far too frequently the naturally aggressive Hovland would short-side himself with eight-iron to wedge approaches, thereby compounding perceived chipping weaknesses by leaving difficult scrambles.
Last year he ranked 191st in strokes gained around the greens. He was only a world class golfer because of extraordinary prowess in his ball-striking.
Now the 25-year-old competes with commendable maturity as well as security around the greens. “Viktor plays well within himself and he’s a smart player,” Nicklaus observed after the Memorial.
“This is going to be one of many wins that he’s going to have as time goes on.”
Prophetic words from the record breaking 18-times major winner and Hovland is quick to acknowledge Mayo’s contribution to what is fast becoming fulfilment of great golfing potential.
“He’s been awesome,” Hovland said. “We’ve been texting back and forth for a long time, but not really about the golf swing, just we’ve always had a great relationship.
“He’s a very interesting guy. I like just picking people’s brains, and his is an interesting brain to pick.
“Ever since he’s been on the team, it’s been great to have someone look at my game from a completely different standpoint. He might be one of the only golf instructors that never watches golf.”
Hovland says Mayo brought “a fresh set of eyes”.
“He’s just brought a lot of math and physics to my golf game,” the Oslo-born star added. “We’ve just applied that, put a lot of hours in, and funnily enough it works.”
The most striking improvement has come around the greens where Hovland now has a success rate of 62.1% compared with a tour average of 58.45. Small but key margins.
“When I start to see the short game come around, I believe I have all the shots,” he said. “I just saw the shots that I was able to pull off in tournaments and in highly stressful situations.
“I coupled that with the course management stuff and the attitude, handling bad bounces, handling bogeys, handling bad shots.
“When I started to see that, I wasn’t stressed when I showed up to a golf tournament or a golf course. It was like, OK, whatever happens happens.”
Hovland will be playing his second Ryder Cup at Marco Simone near Rome at the end of next month and will surely be one of Europe’s most valuable team members as they try to wrestle back the trophy from the United States.
“He just keeps his foot on the pedal,” Rory McIlroy, the man he replaced as FedEx Cup champion observed. “He’s one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world.
“As we all know he’s improved around the greens this year. That’s been the difference from being a top-10 player in the world to what he’s done this year.
“Winning at Memorial, winning last week, having a chance at Oak Hill. So, yeah, (he is a) hell of a player.
“He works incredibly hard. Nothing but respect for how he goes about his business. True professional. For someone that’s still so young, he’s got quite an old head on those shoulders.”
European Ryder Cup fans should be delighted.
