© Getty Images Sport – Mike Ehrmann / Staff
“The PGA Tour did a terrible job. So it’s no surprise that Jon Rahm chose LIV Golf. I wasn’t shocked by his departure, especially after an offer like that.” This is the attack of Viktor Hovland, number 4 in world golf, on the top American men’s circuit.
Among the best players around, the strong point of the Europe team in the Ryder Cup, winner of the FedEx Cup last August, the 26-year-old from Oslo is one of the big names in the discipline being chased by the Arab Super League.
Viktor Hovland, results
“However, I doubt that I can switch to LIV Golf now. I’m not a big fan of the format of their tournaments. You need a competition with 150 players and the ‘cut’ after 36 holes. If I had chosen LIV, I don’t think I would have become a better golfer.
But I can’t blame those players who decide to accept really big offers”, the Norwegian’s opinion. After the 2019 US Open, Hovland turned professional.[16] He played the last five regular tournaments on the PGA Tour in the 2018/2019 season thanks to sponsor invitations, but failed to make the top 125 who automatically qualified for the 2019/2020 season.
He therefore participated in the playoffs on the Korn Ferry tour, where he qualified for the PGA tour in two tournaments. Hovland delivered a very strong debut season on the PGA Tour with one victory (Puerto Rico Open in February), three top ten finishes and nine in the top 25 in a total of 20 tournaments.
He qualified for The Tour Championship and finished the season tied for 20th in the FedEx Cup with a total of $1,982,275 in prize money. Hovland finished No. 33 in the PGA Championship, the season’s only major tournament. At the 2020 European Tour, Hovland finished 27th in the Race to Dubai rankings after third place in the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in December.
The 2020/2021 season opened with shared twelfth place in the US Open. His second career win on the PGA Tour came in the Mayakoba Golf Classic in December. Hovland finished 2020 as No. 14 in the world rankings and third in the FedEx Cup.
In February 2021, Hovland was named player of the month on the European Tour after a second place in the WGC–Workday Championship and sixth place in the Saudi International. In June 2021, Hovland once again made history by becoming the first male Norwegian golfer to win a tournament on the European Tour when he won the BMW International Open 2021.[18] In November, Hovland defended his title at Mayakoba, and in December he won his fifth tournament as a professional in the Hero World Challenge, which is an unofficial tournament on the PGA Tour with a limited starting field of only 20 players.
Victory number six came in the Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour in January 2022 after he beat Richard Bland in a replay. Hovland ended the PGA Tour season in joint 15th place in the FedEx Cup, while he finished sixth overall in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.
Hovland achieved a number of strong positions in the 2022/23 season. He defended his victory in the Hero World Challenge, finished third in The Players Championship and second in the PGA Championship before claiming his fourth victory on the PGA Tour in The Memorial Tournament.
