MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 11, 2025

Viktor Hovland

Quick Quotes

Q. Good round today. What went well out there?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Hit my driver a little bit better today. Still a couple of bad swings here and there, but made some nice putts and just played really smart into the greens.

I didn't necessarily hit that many iron shots close, but I hit some wedges pretty close and made a couple putts, so that was nice.

Q. Obviously you won a month ago, but you've said since then that you're still searching, exploring. What have you found in the past month?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, just been kind of finding the old movement that I used to have in my golf swing, and it's becoming more and more natural. My big right misses are becoming less and less, so it's easier for me to trust what I'm already doing when the majority of the time when I hit a shot I look up and the ball is going in a pretty nice direction.

So it's -- then my body and mind can kind of calm down and just try to execute.

Q. Is this more a process of undoing previous changes?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: A little bit, yeah, for sure.

Q. What kind of information does this golf course give you through 36 holes when you have uneven lies and swirling winds? How much does that tell you about where you are in terms of control the golf ball that you seek?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I mean, had two weeks to kind of put some really good work in, and started seeing some good improvements just in practice.

But it's different thing on a flat lie on a driving range than just hitting the same shot every time, and then when you go out on the course it's not quite as good as you would like. It's still a lot better.

Then obviously being thrown out here in a major, at Augusta in tough conditions, it's no easy thing.

So for me to be able to handle that, as you said, and different lies, wind directions, firm greens, tough pins, yeah, very -- gives me a lot of confidence to see that.

Q. How would you say your golf swing feels like out of 10 if you were to give it a score?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I would say maybe a 6.

Q. Yeah?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: 6 and a half.

Q. What did it used to be?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: It was nonfunctional so it was 1, yeah.

Q. Has it ever been a 10?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: What's that? I've had like periods where -- like rounds of golf where it's been close to ten basically, at a high level, kind of for longer periods of time I would say. Yeah, 8 or 9. Yeah, it's been good.

Q. Where was it at the Valspar?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: 4. Maybe, yeah.

Q. What about the Ryder Cup?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I mean, this is very arbitrary, but --

Q. I need a frame of reference. BMW?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, BMW is about as good as it gets for me I would say. Yeah, Ryder Cup, yeah, hit some bad shots there and those were kind of like a signal that, okay, I'm starting to kind of get into some bad habits.

But then I forget about it and then I hit a good next shot and make a putt. So you kind of forget about it. You can still play great golf doing that but eventually those big misses are creeping in there.

Whatever, I would say 7, 7 and a half.

Q. Can you win this tournament with your mind cluttered with swing thoughts on a Sunday?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Probably not. Well, depends what the swing thought is I would say. You always got to have some thought in your head. But it's more pertaining to the curvature of the shot. Like if you're trying to hit a little bit of a cut or a little bit of a draw, you have to have some sort of feel.

Obviously preset yourself to set that curvature, but there is usually something you have in your head to make the ball do that.

So it's not like you can just have no thoughts and stripe it. But yeah, it's got to be pretty automatic when you're out here. Can't be thinking P2 and P5. That's not how it works.

Q. You've won feeling great about your swing. Won feeling not-so-great about your swing. What does that tell you but this game and your place in it?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it's crazy. You know, sometimes it doesn't quite feel right but you're just able to match up the face and make the ball somehow start where you're looking, even though it didn't feel ideal or felt -- it was different to what you used to do.

But sometimes you get a nice week and you can time it up nicely and you make a few putts, short side yourself, and instead of making bogey or double, you chip in and make a birdie. I mean, this game is silly.