Smylie Kaufman has one big ‘worry’ about Viktor Hovland’s game ahead of the Ryder Cup

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Luke Donald will have been delighted to see Viktor Hovland among the players who finished tied for fifth at the BMW PGA Championship with the Ryder Cup just around the corner.

Viktor Hovland has had quite the season in 2025. He responded to three missed cuts in a row by winning the Valspar Championship in March. The Norwegian subsequently registered just two more top 10s on the PGA Tour after that week.

But the BMW PGA Championship saw Hovland impress once again.

He finished alongside the likes of Tyrrell Hatton and Matthew Fitzpatrick on 15 under par at Wentworth, four shots back of Alex Noren and Adrien Saddier.

Concern about Viktor Hovland expressed ahead of the Ryder Cup

Hovland’s hopes of winning were largely dashed during Saturday’s third round. He made back to back bogeys on the front nine before a double bogey on the par five 12th in a round of 71. And perhaps some of his shots across the week will leave Luke Donald with some food for thought.

Speaking on The Smylie Show about the trio of European Ryder Cup players who ended up a handful of shots behind the leaders, Smylie Kaufman expressed his concern about Hovland in particular ahead of Bethpage.

“Viktor at one point definitely had the lead of the golf tournament. It felt like Viktor actually was going to sneak his way to the top of the leaderboard. Didn’t necessarily get super deep on the weekend, but had good Thursday and Friday rounds,” he said.

“Hatton, the putter went a little cold was what they said. And Fitzpatrick led the field in birdies, but just had too many bogeys. Fitzpatrick’s been a guy I think has just been trending in the right direction, similar to Cameron Young. Two players who I think have played their way into form that might get to play more than let’s say three matches. I could see Fitzy playing his way maybe into another if he’s able to maybe go win a match. But his Ryder Cup record has not been great. But Tyrrell Hatton has been solid as a rock for the most part over the last five years. I expect so much out of Tyrrell this Ryder Cup.

“Viktor’s driver is my biggest question mark, driver and putter really. Viktor’s going to hit enough really good iron shots, but if he’s paired with a good putter, watch out, especially in the foursomes. I worry about Viktor’s putter in closing out some matches.”

How Viktor Hovland really performed on the greens at the BMW PGA Championship

What is very interesting about Kaufman’s comments is that Hovland seems to have had a good week on the greens in Surrey.

Just two European Ryder Cup players found themselves in the top 15 for strokes gained putting over the week at the DP World Tour‘s flagship event.

Rory McIlroy was 15th, while Hovland was fifth in the standings.

Of course, putting under the pressure in a Ryder Cup is a completely different matter altogether. And Hovland is not quite the same player that he was two years ago when he was arguably the best on the planet heading into Rome.

But his ceiling is arguably higher than almost anyone else on the European side. So it would be no surprise to see Donald put a lot of faith in him in New York.