What Viktor Hovland said in his Masters press conference last year now described as ‘ridiculous’ with Ryder Cup claim made

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Viktor Hovland has experienced a really bizarre 2025 season on the PGA Tour so far.

Hovland has a win to his name, after he beat Justin Thomas by one stroke at the Valspar Championship last month.

However, the Norwegian has missed three cuts in the eight PGA Tour events he has played this season, with only one top-10 to his name.

Hovland is sitting outside the Ryder Cup automatic qualification spots, after his incredibly inconsistent run of form.

The 27-year-old was a real star at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, with his standout performance coming alongside Ludvig Aberg in their 9&7 win over Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka during the Saturday morning foursomes.

Hovland ended the week with an impressive 3.5 points out of a possible 5, including a 4&3 win over Collin Morikawa in the singles.

However, since then, his game has taken a turn for the worst.

What Viktor Hovland said in Masters press conference last year with Ryder Cup claim made

Before Hovland’s win at the Copperhead Course in Tampa in March, he had not tasted success since the 2023 Tour Championship.

He attempted to change his swing after he won the Fedex Cup two years ago, in order to incorporate a draw into his game.

That now looks like a huge mistake, but he is seemingly building himself back up.

Back at The Masters in 2024, Hovland was in the midst of a real slump, with his confidence at rock bottom.

Golf Digest writer Luke Kerr-Dineen shared something that Hovland told him about his swing 12 months ago at Augusta National, when speaking on The Dan on Golf podcast:

“Viktor Hovland, finally we’ve got some optimism from here. He’s been so down in the dumps with his own golf swing. I asked him at The Masters about this in his press conference, he said ‘His golf swing was non-functional this time last year, which is ridiculous because non-functional means you can’t hit a golf ball, but in his mind it was non-functional. Now he’s ranking it at like 7/10, it was 4/10, so it’s trending up. At this rate it could be like an 11 by the time the Ryder Cup rolls around.”

What Hovland rates his own swing out of 10

The man from Norway is overly critical of his own swing at times.

Last year, Hovland rated his swing at just 1/10, but said that had jumped up to 4/10 by the time he won at The Valspar Championship last month.

He clearly hasn’t got the club in a position that he likes, and is overly reliant on his hands determining the shape of the shots he hits.

However, the harder he works on his game, the quicker the best version of Viktor Hovland will return.

And it would surprise nobody if he ended the 2025 season as a multiple winner, before going on to star for Europe at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage.