There was Viktor Hovland, sitting on a Connecticut hillside, a Norwegian flag draped over his shoulders, joining a group of his fellow countrymen celebrating his Monday morning playoff victory over Scottie Scheffler in the Travelers Championship by doing the Viking row, a synchronized motion to both celebrate their culture and Hovland’s eighth PGA Tour victory.
Meanwhile, there was Scheffler, the best player in the game, left to sort through another near-miss that both reconfirms his steady brilliance and his particular challenges in this almost-great season.
Let’s start with Hovland, who is one of the most interesting characters in the game and not just because he is a fan of head-banging, heavy-metal music.
While Bryson DeChambeau’s quest to understand and perfect his unique golf swing can feel unrelatable, Hovland somehow blends the tortured-soul persona with a childlike curiosity and an almost charming willingness to disappear down rabbit holes.
Hovland spent more than four hours on the practice range at Shinnecock Hills on Saturday at the U.S. Open, one day after missing the cut, content to let the major championship continue around him while he chased his phantom-like form. According to those who chart such things, Hovland hit 230 balls in that practice session.
Whatever Hovland found that Saturday afternoon went with him to TPC River Highlands, where he took down Scheffler with a Monday morning birdie, needing about 15 minutes to end a tournament that surrendered to darkness on Sunday evening.
Two numbers explain why Hovland had just one finish inside the top-10 since early February – a third place at the RBC Canadian Open sandwiched between missed cuts at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.
Hovland ranked 104th in strokes gained off the tee and 83rd in strokes gained putting entering the Travelers Championship. It doesn’t take a math major to understand that lousy off the tee and lousy on the greens doesn’t add up to great success.
“So even if you’re playing good golf it’s still kind of in the back of your mind a little bit, like, oh, are we over it, are we good? And you have a little bit of doubt still in there, even though you’re hitting good shots.” – Viktor Hovland
At TPC River Highlands, Hovland led the field in strokes gained off the tee and was ninth in strokes gained putting. That turned into 21-under par in regulation and a 6-foot birdie to win on the lone playoff hole.
What changed?
Some of it as simple as shots went where Hovland intended them to go, easier said than done.
“Some of the shots that I’ve seen are just like, whoa, how is that even possible? Like, I’ve never seen some of those shots before. Then I’ve had moments where, OK, I think I’m onto something, it feels good, and then that one big miss comes back again,” Hovland said Monday.
“So even if you’re playing good golf it’s still kind of in the back of your mind a little bit, like, oh, are we over it, are we good? And you have a little bit of doubt still in there, even though you’re hitting good shots. I don’t know if there’s like this one point where you go, oh, I got it now, it just kind of those big misses stop happening and then you just expect to see the ball going straight. Kind of like what happened this week.”
Hovland said there were signs of it at the U.S. Open, but he was done in by a wild one off the tee at the par-4 12th where he drove it out of bounds in the second round. Those two strokes proved costly as he missed the cut by one.
“I finished third in Canada and felt like I was on the right track, and just scored horribly last week [at the U.S. Open] and just didn’t feel super comfortable. I had a couple of really bad misses, but was seeing a lot of progress,” Hovland said.
“So then getting into this week, I feel like I could easily turn it into a really good week. … I don’t know. It’s a crazy game.”
Scheffler understands.
It was surprising to see him miss a 4-footer to extend the Monday morning playoff after he had made a collection of 8- to 10-footers on Sunday just to get into a playoff.
His level of excellence is such that what would be a brilliant season by most players’ standards is a conundrum in Scheffler’s world. He has been in the final pairing in the final round six times this year and has just one victory, and that came at the American Express in January.
It’s enough to make a strong case that, at this point, he should be the player of the year though Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young might want to have a word about that.
Statistically, the numbers still glisten but his approach play from 50 to 125 yards has declined marginally and he has burned more edges, it seems, on the putts that matter this year.
Still, he has a streak of 35 consecutive top-25 finishes, the second-longest in the last 40 years, three shy of the mark established by Tiger Woods.
“So when you see a guy like that who practices as hard as he does and works as hard as he does, you’re always glad to see those people have success.” – Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler’s four runner-up finishes this season include the Masters, where he made a late run at Rory McIlroy; the RBC Heritage, where he lost a playoff to Fitzpatrick, who hit a brilliant approach on the first extra hole; the Cadillac Championship, where Young looked unbeatable; and the Travelers Championship.
“Ball striking is definitely in a good spot. That was some of the best I hit it all season, which is a good spot. Obviously I think just a little bit, a little disappointed with the results,” Scheffler said Monday.
Scheffler will take this week off before playing the Genesis Scottish Open and the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale ahead of the FedEx Cup playoffs in August.
On Sunday at the U.S. Open, as Scheffler was warming up with a chance to complete the career Grand Slam, he saw Hovland grinding away.
“I saw him on the corner of the range hitting balls by himself. So he’s never going to be a guy that’s – if he’s not having success it’s not because he’s not putting in the work,” Scheffler said.
“So when you see a guy like that who practices as hard as he does and works as hard as he does, you’re always glad to see those people have success.”