2024 Players Championship: Top 10 power rankings at TPC Sawgrass

Viktor Hovland has been knocking on the door at the Players Championship.

TPC Sawgrass can be a tough nut to crack on players’ debuts, as evidenced by his missed cut in 2021. He wasn’t too far adrift, posting 72-74 to miss the weekend by just two shots.

Hovland got the hang of it more in 2022. He wasn’t much of a threat going into the weekend with opening scores of 71-73, but he ascended up to T-9th thanks to 68-69 to close the tournament.

The Norwegian was more in the mix last year. He carded 69-71-70-68 to finish T-3rd. No one was catching Scottie Scheffler, who won by five, but Hovland was within two of second place.

“I think number one out here, you've got to have control of your golf ball,” Hovland was transcribed by ASAP Sports in 2023. “You've got to know where to miss it because there's a lot of water, there's a lot of very intimidating tee shots and even second shots. That's what Pete Dye does. He really puts a lot of stress on you."

“I was just able to kind of trust that I can start the ball over water or danger and just curve it away from there. That's very valuable out here. Just haven't quite put all the pieces together to be at the top, but another good week here.”

Hovland is hopeful his confidence from a pair of top-10s at this event buoys him. His current form is a bit lacking by his lofty standards.

Last week resulted in T-36th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational where he managed 71-69-75-75 in major championship-like conditions.

He’s got two top-25s in four starts in 2024, including T-19th at the Genesis Invitational and T-22nd at The Sentry. Both events, as well as the API, featured similar strength fields as this week’s.