Viktor Hovland roared back to form over the weekend at the Valspar Championship and he is one of the joint leaders heading into the final round.
The Norwegian has struggled for some time now and Hovland has made a series of admissions about where his golf game is falling short right now.
Indeed, even after playing well in the opening two rounds at the Valspar, Hovland admitted he was battling his swing a bit, leading to problems in tournaments.
However, he carded a very nicely played third round of two under to sit top of the pile on Saturday.
Still, according to one golf analyst, it could have been even better for Hovland.
Viktor Hovland told to putt better if he wants to win The Valspar Championship
Assessing Hovland’s performance in round three at the Valspar, Golf Channel analyst Jim Gallagher Jr. was full of praise for the Norwegian but picked up on a poor putting display as to why he’s not ahead of the pack.
“Well I think he’s just trying to be consistent, it was a really solid day and the birdie at the first hole set him on his way. It was about ball striking today but boy did he have some opportunities today,” Gallagher said.
‘Let’s look at the par three, coming in 178 yards. Made birdie at the first, birdie here first two days, another solid shot and he’s got 10 feet but this was the story of the day, short on the back stroke and you just cannot leave that putt six inches short and he knows it.
“The other par three eight, another difficult hole, a laser, comes within five feet and he goes on to make that one. But ten, 125, a wedge in, uphill second shot, ball striking really good, within eight feet…but he missed that on. 11, the par five, everything looks confident, comes off the fringe, about 12 feet, guess what? He missed that one too.
“Let’s go to 12, it’s like a repeat over and over. Gets it within 12 feet five inches, and he missed that. 13, a nine iron, up in the air, inside fourteen feet, unfortunately he missed that putt. He was strokes gained putting third coming in today and today he was 57th, giving up over a shot. He wants to be more process than results but he’s got to be pleased with how he’s hit the ball, he’s just got to make the putts.”
Viktor Hovland’s putting in 2024 compared to 2025
Everyone knows that Viktor Hovland has been struggling for a while now but when it comes to his putting, he seems to have gone backwards again compared to 2024.
Yes, the data set is smaller and only over a few events so far, but Hovland has dropped – quite dramatically – in all the putting metrics.
Worryingly, his strokes gained in putting has seen him drop more than 120 places, while he’s gone from 7th on tour to 143rd in terms of average distance of made putts.
| Viktor Hovland putting | 2024 | 2025 |
| One putt percentage | 41.03% (49th) | 40.48 (73rd) |
| Putts per round | 28.58 (39th) | 29.36 (149th) |
| SG Putting | 0.269 (44th) | -.0.728 (169th) |
| 3 putt avoidance | 2.14% (35th) | 3.57% (153rd) |
| Average distance of putts made | 79′ 11 (7th) | 66′ 8 (143rd) |
However, for this particular tournament at the Valspar, it does seem Hovland’s putting helped.
He was second in strokes gained to the field all weekend at more than seven shots on the rest of the field, while he came in as ninth for putts per greens in regulation and an impressive eighth for average feet of putts (86) made per round.
That sort of putting performances needs to be maintained if he is to keep winning, especially given the obvious mechanics in his game he’s still working on.
If Hovland is going to win at the Valspar and continue to trend upwards, then he has got to get back on top of his putting.
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