Viktor Hovland feeling right at home in Mexico

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – There hasn’t been a hotel room named after him yet, but with a big smile, Viktor Hovland said there should be.

Hovland has come to the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba as the two-time defending champion. His face is on highway advertisements, pop-up pictures at the airport and splashed around El Camaleón Golf Course. You quite literally cannot miss Hovland this week.

And he’s fine with that.

“It's a little bit different, for sure, but I think it's cool. I definitely feel welcomed when I come back here. It's a place that means a lot to me,” said Hovland. “It's the place that I played my first PGA TOUR event, won twice here, have a chance to win it again. Yeah, it's just a really special place.

“To be able to come back and kind of see that I have a place in history at this event is really cool.”

Hovland won the 2020 edition of the World Wide Technology Championship with a score of 20 under, topping Aaron Wise by a shot. Last year he shot a tournament-record 23-under and won by four. His elite ball-striking saw him finish first in Greens in Regulation last season at Maykoba, while his putting improved tremendously – he went from T45 in Putts per Round in 2021 to T10 last year.

His putting, he said, is something he’s been thrilled to see improve year over year. Hovland admitted he’s “not a big goal setter” in terms of results, but he’s been thrilled with his process efforts so far. He’s aiming to simplify things to have even more success.

“I did a really good job the last one or two years to push the ceiling a little bit higher. I feel like I’m a way more impressive player now than I was when I first came out, but I need to, now, bring it back a little to get those shots that are more predictable. It doesn’t have to be flashy, or you don’t have to hit high draws because it looks nice on certain holes,” said Hovland. “I think that’s the main thing for me, because I’ve become a way better putter than I was the first two years (on TOUR) and I really feel like I’ve turned a corner around the greens as well.

“I just need to get back to knowing where the ball’s going and it should be fun.”

But what is it about Mayakoba, specifically, that fits his eye? Norway is a long way from the northern part of Playa Del Carmen. And funny enough, although the 25-year-old has had some recent success at El Camaleón, it wasn’t always that way. This event marked his PGA TOUR debut in 2018, and he missed the cut. He also missed the cut the following season before winning in back-to-back tries.

Hovland’s home club in Oklahoma, Karsten Creek, reminds him a lot of El Camaleón. That helps, he said. There’s a trust there.

“At the end of the day I think you've got to hit the ball straight, and with my iron play, I can give myself a lot of looks, and these greens are pretty flat and if I start the ball online, you can make a lot of putts,” said Hovland. “Just a great spot for me.”

The three-time TOUR winner admitted there was, however, a fine line between confidence and expectation because of his recent success in Mayakoba.

He compared it to when he was a sophomore at Oklahoma State and his squad was running through the NCAA schedule that year. It could be added pressure, but it could work to your advantage.

“It comes back to if you’re feeling really confident about your game. I think the heightened pressure can kind of help you because it just almost hyper-focuses you to perform that week,” said Hovland. “But if you don't have the skills to back it up for that week, it can also go the other way to where you're trying to force things instead of it kind of naturally happening. I think it all depends on where the state of your game is.

“I certainly don't see it as a disadvantage this week.”

Hovland’s effort this week in Mexico is the 13th time a golfer has gone for a three-peat since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic from 2009 to 2011. Stricker was the last man to win the same event three years running, and only three golfers in the last 40 years on TOUR have been able to pull the feat (Tiger Woods has done it six times, including two four-peats) so Hovland knows he’s in heaty company.

Hovland’s playing competitors know how hard it’s going to be for him to win again this week.

“You can go through a lot of the good shots you had from the previous year, but at the end of the day you’re still hitting the same shots as everyone else, and you’ve still got to make your putts,” said Collin Morikawa. “But there’s a lot to draw back on, which is always the best thing. When you’re able to draw back on good moments, good memories… it helps a lot. It’s big on your confidence.”

Hovland, the back-to-back winner in Mexico, has got plenty of that heading into this year's edition of the World Wide Technology Championship.

And maybe if he’s back in the winner’s circle on Sunday, again, he might get that hotel room named after him after all.