Viktor Hovland might be the most self-critical golfer on the PGA Tour. He’s rarely happy with his game, even when he’s playing well.
Hovland has made several changes to his golf swing and his coaching team in recent times, and his performances have generally been disappointing.
That seemingly changed at the Valspar Championship three weeks ago when he bounced back from a missed cut at the Players Championship to win the tournament.
Hovland is also having an impressive week at The Masters, inside the top 10 and only four shots off the lead after 36 holes.
Viktor Hovland rates his golf swing out of 10 at The Masters
Hovland was steady on Thursday at Augusta National, with a three-under-par back nine helping him to a 71 to kick off the tournament.
The Norwegian was then flying at five-under for the day in the second round after four consecutive birdies from holes 13 to 16.
Unfortunately, bogeys in the final two holes somewhat halted his progress, but he’s still in an excellent position to contend over the weekend.
In his post-round press conference on Friday, he was asked to rate his swing out of 10. “I would say maybe a 6 or 6 and a half,” he replied, in typical Hovland style.
Shooting a 69 at Augusta without having your best stuff is something that 99.99% of golfers wish they could say.
It’s an important step in the right direction for the 27-year-old, who said about his swing from last year: “It was nonfunctional, so it was 1, yeah.”
He also thinks that he’s playing much better than when he won the Valspar Championship last month, rating that ‘4’ out of 10.
Viktor Hovland’s return to form makes huge difference to Europe’s Ryder Cup chances
Hovland was nowhere near the automatic qualification places (top six) for the Ryder Cup before his Valspar Championship victory.
He’s now up to 20th in the European Ryder Cup standings and will climb many more places if he maintains his top-10 position at The Masters.
Of course, Hovland can still make Luke Donald’s team as a captain’s pick if he doesn’t qualify, but it would make the Englishman’s job much easier if he did.
That’s because, as it stands, many of Europe’s top players would need to be selected to make the cut – and there’s not room for all of them.
This includes Hovland, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre, Sepp Straka and Sergio Garcia.
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