When it comes to his golf swing, PGA Tour veteran Viktor Hovland is lost. He’s also tied for the lead at the halfway point of the 2026 Tour Championship.
If you feel like those two things shouldn’t go together, you’re not wrong. But Hovland is not your normal pro golfer. And here we are.
On Friday evening, after shooting a 66 to move into a tie for the lead at 10 under, Hovland was at his enigmatic best, detailing his frustration with his game and attempting to reconcile his lack of confidence with the fact that he’s in the hunt for the FedEx Cup title.
Hovland on swing issues: ‘It’s not like I’m being unreasonable and confabulating things’
Hovland entered this year’s Tour Championship in 26th in the FedEx Cup standings. No matter. If he can maintain his form over the next two days, he’ll earn his second career FedEx Cup and $10 million.
The 28-year-old triumphed at the Tour Championship in 2023, claiming his first FedEx Cup title in style. It was his third PGA Tour victory that year, and he climbed all the way up to No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
But Hovland is in a very different place with his game and his mind this time around.
He’s struggled with swing issues for the past few years, regularly detailing his battle with his game in tournament press conferences.
He did so again on Friday night.
When asked if good memories from his 2023 Tour Championship win are helping him this week, Hovland revealed that it’s quite the opposite.
“It almost pisses me off more because I know that, oh, I used to be able to do that, and now it feels a lot more difficult to do that,” Hovland said. “It’s not so much that I’m hitting those crazy wayward shots right now, it’s just that I know when I’m swinging it doesn’t feel quite right. I have to compensate a little bit more than I’d like to, but I’m able to keep the ball straight. As long as the ball is going straight, I know I can score. That’s kind of where we are.”
His driver has been a boon this week, but Hovland revealed that he is clueless as to what the “key” to his improved performance is.
“Don’t even know, but I found something that seems to be going straight, so very happy with that,” Hovland said on Friday. “That’s it. That’s all I’ve got for you.”
He then explained that rather than having found a swing fix that he can maintain moving forward, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing right. So his plan is to ride the good drives as long as they keep flying.
“It’s just what’s kind of annoying is, if I have a good feeling, I would be able to sustain it week in and week out. Now I haven’t been doing that. Like last week I drove it awful. The week before, not so great either,” Hovland said. “It’s not like I’ve changed too much since those last few weeks, but I’m driving it better this week. So you’ve just got to take advantage of it.”
While Hovland hasn’t matched his career heights from 2023 in recent years, he still has performed well and won.
He captured the 2025 Valspar Championship title, though afterward said he “didn’t feel super comfortable or confident” and was “still hitting a lot of disgusting shots.”
This season, he won the 2026 Travelers Championship, topping World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in the process. He’s risen back to No. 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking and now has a chance to win his second FedEx Cup.
But it’s still not enough to satisfy Hovland, though he clarified that he’s not searching for perfection, he’s just trying to get his game back to where it was earlier in his career.
“You can say you’re chasing perfection, but you’ll never get there. But it’s not so much that I’m chasing perfection, it’s just I’m chasing what I’ve done for most of my career,” Hovland said on Friday. “I know how good it is, and I know that statistically it’s not the same. I can feel it’s not the same. It doesn’t look the same. It doesn’t produce the same numbers. So it’s not the same.”
He continued: “It’s not like I’m being unreasonable and confabulating things, but I know there’s always a solution, and I’m trying to resolve the problems that I have and get back to a position to where I can play like this week in, week out. That’s the goal.”
It doesn’t sound like Hovland is going to find a swing “solution” this week, but he might hoist the FedEx Cup trophy anyway.
