Viktor Hovland: An Amateur Breaking records at the U.S. Open

Viktor Hovland made quite the splash this week at The U.S. Open, by finishing -4, and tying for 12th place. Not only that, he broke a long standing record while he was at it.

Coming into Pebble Beach, no one thought Viktor Hovland was going to win. With tremendous long shot odds of 300/1, the chances of him becoming the first amateur to win a major since the 1930’s were all but guaranteed to not happen.

That didn’t stop him from making his name known to all watching this week.

Playing in his last event as an amateur, Hovland played great golf all weekend, only stumbling a few times along the way. By the time all was said and done, he broke a record that had stood since 1960.

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Back then, some kid by the name of Jack Nicklaus shot 282 at The U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. Wonderfully enough, that event was also a Par 71, meaning there isn’t a shots to par difference between the two.

Viktor Hovland bested The Golden Bear by two strokes, shooting 280 this week at Pebble Beach. Day two was a little rough on Hovland, as he shot 73, with three bogeys and just one birdie.

He showed all week that he was able to score though, carding an incredible 16 birdies. Unfortunately, that went along with 10 bogeys and one double-bogey. It was still enough to help him break the record that had stood for nearly 60 years for the lowest finish by an amateur at The U.S. Open.

Hovland made a splash on day one, as he got off to a wonderful start. He was -4 through six holes, and was inches away from being five under, as he rolled an eagle attempt just short on the par-5 6th hole.

From there on, he played par golf throughout the next 66 holes, which is still an incredible feat. The only thing that Viktor Hovland missed out on was prize money, as the other players who tied with him at -4 each brought home a cool $288,715. Hovland should be well on his way to making his millions on tour, especially if this week is any indicator of the things to come. If only someone would’ve told you to take him to finish top 20 this week….. oh wait.

It won’t be long before he finally does bring home a check though, as The U.S. Open is the last event that Hovland will play as an amateur. He and his college teammate, Matthew Wolff, have both renounced their amateur status, and will be playing as professionals in this weeks Traveler’s Championship. You can even check out our power rankings to see if either of them made it this week.

Further adding to the amount of spotlight Hovland got, he was featured multiple times over the week online in the U.S. Open featured groups. Meaning that if you were watching the featured stream, you were treated to a lot of golf from Viktor Hovland. Personally I would like to thank them for allowing us to watch so much of him.

One of the top ways Hovland was able to turn in such nice scores this week was his play off the tee. He actually ranked first overall in Strokes Gained off of the tee this week, beating out Xander Schauffele by nearly two strokes, 8.4 to 6.46, respectively.

Putting was essentially his downfall. He ranked in the top 30 in approach and short game, but was a lowly 72nd in putting, losing a total of 2.65 strokes over all four rounds. Day two was the main culprit, as he lost 3.26 strokes gained on that day alone.

If you thought that he was always in position to score, looking into more of his driving stats explains why. Yes, he was first in SG off-the-tee. He was also the most accurate golfer all week, tying with Henrik Stenson in fairways hit (47 of 56). He also was a solid 49th in distance, which would’ve been higher, but he averaged only 284.50 on Day four, more than ten yards less than he had in every other round.

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It was an incredible week for the youngster. Now, he heads out to the Traveler’s to start making a living for himself playing golf, instead of playing under the colors of Oklahoma State. Best of luck to Viktor Hovland, as it looks like there should be plenty of highlights to come in his young career.

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