Viktor Hovland’s first set of golf clubs came from St. Louis — an odd fact about a boy who grew up across the ocean in Norway.
Hovland’s father, Harald, was working in the St. Louis area and bought his son’s first set of clubs to bring home to him at age 11.
“I don’t know exactly where he lived and which golf course that he drove by to work every day,” Hovland said Tuesday. “But, yeah, just got introduced to the game here and bought some clubs. Brought it home back home to Norway and that’s how I got started playing golf.”
Now Hovland has some work of his own to do in St. Louis. At No. 22 in the FedEx Cup standings entering this week’s BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club, Hovland is in promising position but not completely guaranteed of his place in the season-ending Tour Championship next week.
He’s seeking to stay alive for his second FedEx Cup title in a four-year span after breaking through in 2023.
Hovland won the BMW that year to propel him into the Tour Championship, where his starting strokes plus his 72-hole score were enough to give him the trophy and massive season-ending bonus. Now the starting strokes format for the Tour Championship has been eliminated; he just needs to be in the top 30 at the end of this week to reach the season finale, though there are plenty of hungry players on his tail.
“It’s the tournament leading into the Tour Championship, and it’s a very important week, but I really enjoy a lot of the courses that the BMW Championship has gone to,” Hovland said. “… If you hit the ball long and straight, if your iron game is on point, you’re going to go pretty far in this event. And then it kind of comes down to how many putts you make.”
Hovland has become known for tinkering with his swing for the past few years. He was asked Tuesday if his family, coach or other team members have told him he’s being too hard on himself as he chases the top form he had in 2023.
“Yeah, no, I’ve heard that a few times,” he admitted. “I think it comes from a good place. I really appreciate hearing, especially from people around me. One thing is watching on social media or people that you don’t know, I don’t really tend to take that with that much value. But when it comes from people in my closest circle, I really listen and pay attention to that.
“… You’re always thinking, like, how can this get better and better and better. And if I hit a terrible shot and get lucky and make a birdie, it’s like, ‘OK, well the next time, if I’m not lucky,’ you know. You always got to think that way. Especially when I know how good it can be, it’s even more frustrating when you don’t execute the way you want to.
“So, yeah, I don’t know, that’s just kind of how I solve through this. It’s like I have to be hard on myself to wanting to get up the next day and solve these problems. If everything is just happy-go-lucky and everything’s all right, which it is, my life’s good, but I have still got problems, I’ve still got things to solve. I think if you don’t want to solve them, then I feel like you’re kind of wasting your time.”
