U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2025

June 14, 2025

Viktor Hovland

Oakmont Country Club

Flash Interview

THE MODERATOR: Viktor, obviously in a great spot here heading into Sunday. What do you take away from this round?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Pretty pleased with how I battled out there. Didn't get off to a great start, just kept plugging along, hit some great iron shots and made some nice putts around the turn there. Really nice par putt on 15 and awesome birdie on 17. Yeah, a little bitter about my driver. Just can't seem to figure it out. It's like a lingering problem all this year, so it's kind of pissing me off.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. You talked at the PGA two years ago about how your strategy for the majors was to wear out the fairways and the middle of the green. Obviously it's been a little bit different than that this week. I guess I'm wondering how do you feel like you've evolved as a golfer to be able to handle a test like this when your game isn't quite as steady as it might have been a couple years ago?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Just feel like I've matured a lot more, just seen a lot more stuff happening. I know kind of what it takes to win a major championship, so I know the shots to try to hit and what shots not to try to hit.

Feel like I'm way better equipped, just need to get that driver sorted, and I've got the game to do it. So it's like I'm super proud that I'm that close, but it's kind of frustrating that the driver is still just kind of holding me back a little bit.

Q. What was your favorite of some of the hero shots you had today?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: The pitch shot on 17 was pretty sweet. I was quickly staring at bogey there if that first or second shot doesn't come out perfectly. 7-iron I hit on No. 9 that hit the pin and made a birdie there. That was really nice after hitting a lot of really good shots there.

Iron shots, the 9-iron I hit into 5 that spun back was a really nice shot. Iron shot into 6 was really good. Iron shot into 7 was really good. 8 was really nice. 9 was really nice and 10 was really nice. So that stretch was pretty fun.

Q. Can you take us through No. 1, kind of your mindset after that drive and then dropping it on the path and being able to minimize damage?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I felt really good. I had a really nice range session this morning and hit my irons really well. 3-wood was really good. Even the drivers were pretty nice. We had a left-to-right wind on the range, so kind of prepared me for No. 1, because it was straight off the left. Just aimed it left and tried to hit a little squeeze cut out there with the wind, tried to get it in the fairway, and just got super stuck on it. Hit it off the heel, as well, and it was an open club face and it just, yeah, sayonara.

Q. This may be a dumb question because you have to do it literally every week, but how, as someone that thinks so much about getting your golf swing as perfect as possible, do you shift into scoring mode and get the ball in the hole as quickly as possible?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: You have to compartmentalize. You like to work on a couple things, but I know that my iron game is good enough, like it's really, really good. Statistically even this year for how poorly I feel like I've been swinging it, the iron game has been actually really, really solid this year. So I know that even if it doesn't feel great I can still get over the ball and get the ball out there somewhere. I would like to think my golf IQ is very high, so even if it doesn't feel good and I'm not comfortable I can still play the game.

I've never -- I feel like the way that I became good at golf was having something suboptimal that I had to play with. When I was a kid I played with like a big slice off the tee and I couldn't hit anything but a big slice, but I learned to score with that. So I think that kind of sticks with you for the rest of your career. Then last few years obviously my swing's been good, I've been hitting a lot better shots, it's easier to score, and now when I'm not swinging it as good I still have the capability to get the ball in the hole.

Q. I wonder how do you assess your position, where you're at right now, and how badly do you want to win one of these things called a major?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Sure, we would all like to win, that's why we practice so hard. But there's also like a deep passion in me that I want to hit the shots. Like I want to stand up on the tee and hit the shots that I'm envisioning. When the ball's not doing that, it bothers me.

I'm well aware that I've got a chance tomorrow, and if I shoot a low round of golf tomorrow then anything can happen. But there's a lot of good players around me. Adam Scott played a brilliant round today, just didn't really miss a shot. That forces me to play some really good golf tomorrow.

Q. Wondering, psychologically if there's -- I know you want to be leading, but are you maybe in a pretty good spot where you're close enough to where you have a chance and yet you don't really have to maybe do anything special, just solid. Your thoughts on that?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I don't know, what are they at right now? I saw they were, are they all at 3? Oh, 4? They're all at 4. Okay. So I'm a few shots behind, but obviously I've got a chance. If you would have asked me start of the week if I had a chance to win on Sunday I would have been extremely happy with that, three shots behind. A lot of things can happen out here. That could go away on one hole.

But I don't expect Sam or J.J. to mess it up out there. They're solid players. But I just need to figure out my driving, put the ball in play and I'm feeling really good about my game.

Q. This is the toughest driving test you guys are going to face all year long. Are you guiding it or are you going still full throttle at it knowing you're sort of uncomfortable with it?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: First two days I wasn't guiding it very much. Ball wasn't quite coming out exactly what I was wanting it to, but it went straight and it felt pretty good off the face. So I didn't have to guide it too much.

Today didn't feel as good, and then when you start to see the ball leak a little bit right, which has been my miss recently and came out today, then that's when you start to guide it a little bit more. Obviously that leads to even worse shots. So it's kind of a bad position to be in.