THE 154TH OPEN

July 16, 2026

Viktor Hovland

Mixed Zone

Q. How did the conditions out there today compare to how they look to us with the naked eye? Obviously it looked very brown and yellow and firm and fast. How do they compare to the experience of actually playing it?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: The fairways are definitely very firm. I would say the greens were still fairly receptive, especially when it's not blowing too much.

You can definitely get tricked in some places. Like on 12, I got a little greedy and decided to hit an 8-iron instead of just hitting a 9-iron, and that's one of those holes or greens that slopes slightly downhill, and it's downwind. That one really played very, very firm. But most of the other greens I feel like are still fairly receptive. If you give yourself some chances from the fairway, which is easier said than done, I think you can be somewhat aggressive to a lot of these pin locations.

Q. I'm curious to ask you, it's been a big summer for Norwegian athletes, in the U.S. particularly. Obviously you've been part of that, as well. I'm curious what your experience has been with your home land's athletics and generally how you've reacted to all the excitement?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I think it's really cool. There's a lot of good things coming out of Norway these days, not just the last couple months but also I would say the last few years, especially in big sports, as well. We won the medal count in the winter Olympics last time around, and obviously with the football team doing so good, Casper Ruud, tennis, and now Kristoffer Reitan winning another Signature Event earlier in the year, it's pretty cool to see a country with 5½ million people doing so well. It's inspiring to me, as well.

Q. We've asked a lot of people about driver strategy, when you used it, if you used it at all. Where do you fall on it? Like today where did you use driver, for instance?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I'd say I probably anticipated hitting more drivers. Like that's what I did more in the practice rounds. But I think in tournament conditions, I don't know, it's just a little bit easier to fall back and try to play a little bit short of a lot of these bunkers because you can hit driver a few more places and be okay, but you'd like to kind of take some of that luck element out of it if you feel like you're hitting it pretty nice. It's nice to try to give yourself a look from the fairway so you can kind of strategise your way around this course.

Q. Bob MacIntyre was saying he's playing short, short, short all the time. Do you think that's what most people are going to default to?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I think so. It's tricky because it's so easy to go, you might hit a 4- or 5-iron off of a tee box and if you get a little softer bounce you might be 40 yards short of some of those bunkers you were planning to hit short of, and next time around you might take a little less club because you don't want to give up 40 yards, and then it comes off hot and then you're in that bunker you tried to stay short of.

It's a little tough. Even if you do try to hit driver and try to go over it, it can just bounce so many different places. Yeah, it's really tricky. I'm kind of curious to see how many fairway hits would be the average today because it's very difficult to put the ball in the fairway.

Q. What is the general aim line on the 13th hole?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Really, guys were hitting driver there today?

Q. They weren't hitting driver but they were trying to get over the little (indiscernible) with a 3-wood.

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I find that one kind of strange. Obviously that takes the left hazard out of play, but there's so many bunkers there. I just don't really see that one.

Q. I was just curious where was your line on that home?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I hit a terrible 3-iron. But I thought even -- in the practice round it was in and off the left, so I hit driver. It was a very difficult tee ball. Today it was more out of the left so I tried to hit a 3-iron, hit a low one and chase it up there. I kind of sliced it in the right stuff.

I think that's kind of the play. It depends on the wind direction. But if it's straight downwind maybe it's just driver and send it, or 3-wood. I have a hard time seeing that one, to be honest.