Viktor Hovland earned ‘unbelievable’ victory at Valspar Championship

Viktor Hovland’s -11 scoreline was just barely enough to eke out a victory at the Valspar Championship this weekend. The first non-Signature Event on Tour in a few weeks, Hovland entered the field and turned in the best performance of the weekend. It surprised even him.

Viktor Hovland addresses stunning win

Viktor Hovland withstood a furious rally by Justin Thomas, another player who’d experienced a bit of a losing streak on Tour, and earned the victory at the Valspar Championship. It was, in Hovland’s eyes, a surprise victory.

“When you have no confidence and you don’t believe you’re going to play well that’s pretty tough,” Hovland admitted via Golf.com. It was his first win in about 18 months. He won the 2023 BMW Championship and then the Tour Championship a week later, but he’d been winless since then.

Hovland has had some difficulties since then, including numerous coaching changes. It seems to have paid off with a win. “It’s unbelievable to see that I could win. Because I honestly did not believe that I could do it this week,” the golfer said.

Hovland struggled at the Players Championship, including a staggering 80 in the first round. He was a last-minute entry to the Valspar because of the lack of confidence, but he has something to be proud of now: another career win.

“I wasn’t even sure I was going to play or not until I got here Tuesday afternoon and played a late nine holes. I played nine holes in the pro-am the next morning and we were here ready to go,” the Norwegian said. He was under par in all four rounds, including -4 after a bogey on the 18th that sealed his one-stroke victory.

It had been a while since Hovland was in a position to win a tournament, and he admittedly didn’t know what to expect during Sunday’s final round. “I just tried to go out there and play my game and I knew I didn’t feel super comfortable or confident, but I was really patient and just tried to play really smart,” he admitted.”I think that’s a credit kind of to myself this week is that I almost felt like I played this week like a veteran, like I’ve been out here for 20 years.”

He admitted during the tournament that he was still hitting some “disgusting (derogatory) shots,” but that he was at least playing well enough to offset those. He did just that en route to a promising win less than a month ahead of the Masters.