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2021 Hero World Challenge: Top 10 power rankings at Albany

By Mike Randleman

December 2, 2017; New Providence, The Bahamas; Detail view of the trophy on the first hole during the third round of the Hero World Challenge golf tournament at Albany. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
December 2, 2017; New Providence, The Bahamas; Detail view of the trophy on the first hole during the third round of the Hero World Challenge golf tournament at Albany. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 24, 2021; Haven, Wisconsin, USA; Team Europe player Viktor Hovland plays his shot from the ninth fairway during day one foursome rounds for the 43rd Ryder Cup golf competition at Whistling Straits. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 24, 2021; Haven, Wisconsin, USA; Team Europe player Viktor Hovland plays his shot from the ninth fairway during day one foursome rounds for the 43rd Ryder Cup golf competition at Whistling Straits. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

Viktor Hovland is at the Hero World Challenge for the first time. He was certainly capable of earning an invite in 2020 had the event taken place.

Nonetheless, here he is at Albany looking for his second win in a row.

Hovland won his third PGA Tour win last month while defending his title at the World Wide Technology Championship. He breezed to a four-shot victory over Carlos Ortiz with fellow Hero World Challenge participants, Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler, in the top five.

Going low at Albany is essential. Hovland led the field at Mayakoba in birdies (28) and was T-4th in fairway accuracy (73.21%). And that was all with a borrowed driver.

Hovland let friend, Danny Lee, swing Hovland’s driver on the range during a practice round. The driver snapped into pieces. Hovland was not upset about it, but he only had a backup driver head and not a shaft.

Hovland was able to borrow a shaft from James Hahn that had similar specs.

“Obviously when something like that happens, you just kind of go, ‘Oh, man, come on, like really, is that gonna happen?’ ” Hovland was quoted by SI. “But then I was able to get over that pretty quickly as soon as I, you know, played a driver that was really good. I didn’t feel like I was giving up anything to the rest of the field and I was just kind of able to plot my way around.”

Last season on the PGA Tour, the former Oklahoma State Cowboy ranked fifth in strokes gained off the tee (.656) and 15th in SG approach (.648). He’s as pure of a ball striker as they come and continues to improve on and around the greens.

Discounting a withdrawal at the U.S. Open, Hovland has made 10 straight cuts worldwide. There’s no cut to worry about at the Hero, but it still illustrates the 24-year-old’s consistency.

That spans includes a win at the DP World Tour’s BMW International Open and a T-5th finish in the FedEx Cup.

Hovland just broke into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time. That could only be the start, especially if he beats a slew of top players this week.

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