Viktor Hovland Just Became A Somebody on the PGA Tour

Viktor Hovland just became a somebody in professional golf. While the rest of us were watching Bryson DeChambeau go mano-a-mano with Patrick Reed, Hovland was notching his first PGA Tour victory at the Puerto Rico Open.

It would be easy to overlook an opposite-field title if it were won by any one of a number of other professionals, but Viktor Hovland is much more than that. Eight months ago, he was still an amateur.

"“If you would ask me a year ago if I would have won a PGA Tour event in my 17th or 18th start as a 22-year-old, I mean, that would be nuts,” he said about winning."

On the final hole of the Puerto Rico Open, he made a long birdie putt of perhaps 25-30 feet. While it’s not likely that he expected to make it, he said he didn’t want to do what he had done earlier in the day, which was to leave putts short.

"“I gave it a good rip and thankfully hit the middle of the cup, because it was going by a little bit,” he admitted. “When it was five, six feet out, I knew it was looking pretty good.”"

Before winning, Hovland played 13 tournaments on the PGA Tour as a professional, several on the European Tour, two on the Korn Ferry Tour as a pro and four on the PGA Tour as an amateur. His victory came in his 8th tournament for the PGA Tour 2020 season.

The win was worth more than the trophy and the money, though. He now has a PGA Tour exemption through 2022, a 2020 Players invite and entry to the 2020 PGA Championship.

"“I hadn’t really thought about the perks yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be nice to get into some of the events that I wasn’t already qualified for. So yeah, it’s going to be a good year,” he said."

Hovland is currently 60th in the world, up 40 places from the week before. That ranking gets him into the WGCs. If he can somehow climb to the top 50 by the end of March, he will qualify for this year’s Masters.

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In addition to the rest, he will most likely represent Norway in the 2020 Olympics, probably with Kristoffer Ventura, who has two victories on the Korn Ferry Tour.

If you are a Hovland follower and let’s face it, honestly, few of us have been, you would already know that he turned pro in June of 2019 and finished second at the Albertsons Boise Open in August. That earned him enough money to qualify for a PGA Tour card in 2020. That’s not just a fast-tracking, it’s supersonic.

It’s hard to name another golfer who has gone from amateur to the PGA Tour in less than three months. Most spend several months; or longer, trying to get on the Korn Ferry Tour, then work their way up that circuit with hopes of a top 25 finish there or in the season-ending playoffs. Or they try to make enough money in seven PGA Tour exemptions to get a card for the rest of the year.

Viktor Hovland skipped all that.

We should have known from his record as an amateur, but that isn’t always a barometer of success on the professional circuit.

Viktor Hovland won the U.S. Amateur in 2018 as a member of the Oklahoma State University golf team, a true golf powerhouse. That victory earned him a spot in the 2019 Masters, where he finished low amateur and T32, and in the 2019 U.S. Open, where he finished low amateur and 12th with a score of 280. The 280 at the U.S. Open broke Jack Nicklaus’ record of 282 as an amateur, a score Nicklaus shot in 1960.

While Hovland looked happy when the final putt dropped, you should have heard the Norwegian TV announcers describing it. Of course, it’s in Norwegian, so you have to use your imagination as to what they said. (I thought it sounded like a cross between my late mother and her Finnish relatives talking and a backward audiotape.) However, the excitement was clear in any language.

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1231978844426358784?s=20

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The next places to watch Viktor Hovland are The Honda Classic, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and The Players.

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