After a brutal finish at Augusta National on Friday, Viktor Hovland is taking a break.
Hovland, who missed the cut at the Masters, officially withdrew from the RBC Heritage next week. The tournament at Harbour Town is one of the PGA Tour’s signature events.
Viktor Hovland WD from next week’s RBC Heritage. The field will be finalized after the conclusion of the Masters Tournament.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) April 13, 2024
Hovland has won six times in his career on Tour, including three times last season. He won both the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship in the FedExCup Playoffs to win the season-long title, too.
Lately, though, Hovland hasn’t been anywhere near as dominant. He made the cut in all five of his Tour starts this season entering this week, but he finished inside the top 20 just once. At The Players Championship last month, which marked his most recent Tour start, he finished T62.
Then on Friday, Hovland seemed to fall apart completely. After a 71 on Thursday, Hovland went 9-over in his second round and missed the cut at the Masters for the first time in his career. He made two double bogeys and had a triple bogey at the par-5 second. Though it was his double at the 15th that was easily the worst of the day. Hovland missed a very makeable par putt and then ended up doubling after an awful attempt at a tap-in.
Golf…
Six months ago, Hovland was on top of the world, winning big events, leading the Ryder Cup team and smiling throughout.
Now, a 81 at Augusta, a missed cut and a withdrawal from next week’s RBC Heritage.
Happens to everyone but hard to watch.
— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) April 13, 2024
Hovland ended up throwing the ball into the water after finally making his putt.
Though the 26-year-old recently parted with his swing coach, and he’s been bouncing around ever since, he said ahead of the Masters that he felt like he was in a good place.
“I feel like I’m on a good track right now and we’ll see where that takes us,” Hovland said. “But, yeah, I mean, it’s one of those things. Like, I was playing great golf last year, but it’s not like I’m trying to change my golf swing. It’s just sometimes the game of golf you try to do the same every day, but then things aren’t the same every day when you go to the golf course. I took a huge break after last year and when I came back, things were a little bit different and I had to kind of find my way back to where I think I’m going to play my best golf.”
It’s unclear when Hovland will play on Tour again. He’ll have three more opportunities before the PGA Championship next month at Valhalla Golf Club.
