SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Viktor Hovland held his palms up while searching for his golf ball in the rough beside the 14th fairway at Le Golf National, his expression summing up his frustration.
Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele were seen shuffling their feet in the tall grass, as were caddies, officials, volunteers and Hovland, trying without much luck to find Hovland’s golf ball. Just as Hovland was prepared to give up, the ball was found by a tournament volunteer.
He ended up making a par on the hole but by then the damage was long done.
A triple-bogey 7 at the first where he badly pulled an iron shot off the tee and into the water—and then hit his third in the water—led to a bad day for Hovland, who shot 75 and is outside of the top 50 in a 60-player tournament.
It continued a perplexing year for the reigning FedEx Cup champion, who looked nearly unbeatable late last year but has struggled throughout 2024.
“I’m just playing poorly,’’ Hovland said afterward. “The ball is not going where I want it to. And out here you’re going to be punished.’’
Hovland’s decline this year has been one of the top stories in the game. After contending in major championships over each of the past two years and storming to that FedEx Cup title, the Norwegian seemed poised to take a step up this year.
But aside from a third-place finish at the PGA Championship, where he found form after recently having gotten back with his coach, Joe Mayo, the results have again been poor.
Hovland missed the cut in three of the four major championships this year. The third-place finish at Valhalla is his only top-10 and his best outside of that is a tie for 15th at the Memorial, where he won a year earlier.
“I’m still capable of playing really good golf despite some really big technical issues at the moment,’’ Hovland said. “And I think the PGA was a sign of that. But if the machine is broken I can’t really overcome that. And right now, I’ve got to fix the machine.’’
In comments after the round to reporter Espen Blaker of Eurosport/Discovery made in Norwegian, Hovland said: “I'm not playing well at all. My game feels very unstable, and there is way too much random stuff happening out there.
“I got a big slap in the face on the opening hole, and couldn't recover from there. My game is just not good enough at the moment, that is just the facts.’’
Hovland said playing with Schauffele and Rahm only extenuated the differences at the moment.
“There is a big contrast, that’s for sure,’’ he said. “The differences are quite massive at the moment. I know I have it in me to play at the same level, but right now it feels quite far away.’’
Schauffele tried to give the situation some perspective.
“It’s just golf; he’ll figure it out,’’ he said. “He's way too stoic, I guess, and too good at golf. I've played with Hovi; all of us have played worse or better. I've played with him at his best. It's special.
“So now is now, and in two or three months, or hopefully in the next couple of weeks for him, he'll figure it out. But I don't think anybody is going to worry about him.’’
The former Oklahoma State golfer said he went “down a few rabbit holes’’ in search of his game and told Sirius XM radio at the PGA he had considered withdrawing from the tournament.
“I wasn’t playing good at all,’’ he said. “Overall, I thought things didn’t feel very good, and when they don’t feel good, it’s like “What’s the point of playing.’’
But play he did and he came down the stretch with a chance before falling short of Schauffele and runner-up Bryson DeChambeau. It seemed like a turning point, especially since he had returned to Mayo and found some immediate success.
At the PGA, Hovland said that Mayo helped identify a feel he wanted to recreate and the two worked on it together in the days leading up to the first round. Even Hovland was surprised how quickly it took.
But since then he tied for 15th at the Memorial, then a missed cut at the U.S. Open, tied for 20th at the Travelers, tied for 46th at the Scottish Open and a missed cut at the British Open.
“I felt I saw some instant improvements when I went back to Joe Mayo, but since then it's been hard to build on that and make the improvements we are looking for,’’ he said. “It is frustrating... I don't really know what to say. Golf isn't very easy at the moment.’’
Hovland said not having Mayo with him at Le Golf National has made working through his issues a bit more challenging. He’s got two more rounds to play here, then a week off prior to the FedEx Cup playoffs.
At 55th in the standings, Hovland is not assured of advancing to the BMW Championship (top 50 ) and Tour Championship (top 30), the tournaments he won last year.
“I’m not going to be able to do a whole lot the next couple of rounds,’’ he said. “I’m just going to make the most out of it and get back to work.’’
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Viktor Hovland's Long, Mystifying Season Continues at Paris Olympics.
