With the Open Championship looming, Hovland views the Scottish Open as both a tournament and a tune-up. He discusses the delicate balancing act of preparing for back-to-back big weeks, trying to sharpen technical aspects of his swing while maintaining scoring form. This is insight into a top player managing momentum and expectations.
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Victor, one of the cleanest rounds on your way to a 66 today. How pleased were you with that round? Yeah, very nice. Pleased with the score. Um, left a couple of uh shots out there on couple of the par fives, but other than that, I’m pretty happy with the day. Give us an idea uh of of what you learned to the golf course today. It feels like I mean, standing here with you now, there’s barely a breath of of wind at all. How did it change out there as you were playing? It was a little bit breezy when we first started, but it was still getable. Um but now towards the back nine kind of the last 12 12 holes we played it got pretty nice. So really wanted to take advantage of uh the good conditions. Yeah. Yeah. How conscious were you of the opportunity that existed out there this afternoon? And how does that affect your mindset? Do you do you go chasing something or do you have to remain patient when it comes to Lynx golf? Yeah, it’s one of those courses where it’s getable. If you’re playing really well and you’re getting a few nice bounces and making some putts, but as soon as you get a little bit greedy and you miss in a bad spot, it’s you’re going to make a bogey pretty easily. And uh that was kind of one of the big things today. I wanted to keep a clean card and when I hit a good shot, try to make the putt and and make birdies, but I wasn’t going to try to push anything. And just zoom out if you will for us for a moment and and give us an insight into Camp Hovland. You know, you had a great result at Oakmont a few weeks ago and we know there’s a big week ahead as we head to Royal Port Russia next week. Of course, we’re not overlooking this week and the significance of winning here in Scotland, the home of golf. Where are you with your game and how are you managing yourself with these two big weeks ahead of you? Yeah, still not entirely pleased with how things feel and the confidence level is still not where I want it to be, but uh it’s been nice to see that, you know, I could I could win Valpar and have a chance to contend at the US Open and had a nice week at the Travelers before I had a withdrawal with my neck. But I’ve been trending in the right direction, even though still doesn’t feel great. But, uh, if I can hit the ball most of the time where I’m looking and and make a few putts and and scramble, then we can still compete. So, that’s, uh, that’s, uh, when it comes down to it, that’s what matters. So, um, hopefully the confidence level can can improve, uh, as we go along. And just finally, so with that in mind, if you could just put your finger on the one thing that you you hope to slot into place before, well, Sunday of this week and into next week, what would that one thing be? It’s hard to put one one thing in place, but I mean uh like technically swing mechanics and stuff. I I still need to prove a little bit before I feel super confident and just comfortable out there and knowing that I’m going to hit it well every single day. Uh we’re a little bit of waste from that, but I do feel like lately I’ve been chipping and putting it better. And I I made some nice up and downs today, made some nice putts for par. And if I can continue to do that, I’m I’m going to be up there. So, I’m very pleased with that. Yeah, really solid start. Well done.
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