Alright, so I spent some time looking into Viktor Hovland’s performance in the majors. It wasn’t like some deep dive analysis, more like me just getting curious and poking around.
I started by just remembering his name popping up quite a bit during major weeks. Seems like he’s often in the mix, you know? So, I decided to actually check his results over the last few years. Didn’t use any fancy database, just kinda browsed through tournament results pages I could find easily.
What I Found (or Didn’t)
Okay, first thing I noticed, the guy obviously has talent. Tons of it. He hits the ball so pure, especially off the tee. Watching some highlights, it’s impressive stuff. You see him near the top, sometimes right up there contending on the weekend.
But here’s the thing that got me thinking, the main part of my little “practice” session here: he hasn’t actually closed the deal in one yet. That seemed kinda odd for a player of his caliber. So, I started to think, “Why?”
- I watched some clips specifically from final rounds where he was close.
- I paid attention to commentary about his game during those moments.
- I tried to spot if there was a pattern.
What kept sticking out, at least to my eyes and based on what others were saying, was the short game. Around the greens. It felt like that was the part of his game that sometimes held him back under the biggest pressure. He’d hit amazing drives, great iron shots, but then getting it up and down seemed like a struggle compared to the other top guys he was battling.
I remember specifically thinking about the PGA Championship one year, and maybe The Open too. He was right there, playing great tee-to-green, but a few iffy chips or bunker shots seemed to cost him momentum at crucial times. It wasn’t always dramatic blow-ups, just… not quite sharp enough when it absolutely needed to be.
So, my whole process was basically: get curious, do some casual looking back at results and highlights, and then just mull it over. Trying to connect the dots based on what I saw. It’s clear he has the firepower. Winning a major feels inevitable, but seeing when and how he overcomes that final hurdle, especially around the greens, that’s what I ended up focusing on during my little review. It was just interesting to track his journey in these specific big events.
