Viktor Hovland’s Ryder Cup was bittersweet.
Yes, he was an integral part of Team Europe’s away Ryder Cup success, winning a crucial point on Saturday alongside Robert MacIntyre that all but sealed the victory. But he had to withdraw from his Sunday singles match due to a neck injury.
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It was an injury that had plagued him throughout 2025. The Norwegian withdrew from the Travelers Championship earlier in the year due to the same issue. Nonetheless, he received a ton of criticism online for withdrawing, as it ultimately helped his team win.
What’s of more concern to Hovland is how this injury will continue to affect him moving forward. He does claim to be in better health, and says he found something with his swing that gives him cause for optimism in 2026.
However, Hovland admitted there’s one area of his game that is holding him back from playing to the best of his ability.
Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
What Viktor Hovland still can’t do that is holding him back on the golf course
Hovland has always had an advantage off the tee with his distance. While he’s not the longest hitter in the game, his ability to go full swing and still hit fairways consistently has put him among some of the game’s most effective drivers.
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But since his neck injury, Hovland admitted that he’s unable to swing as freely as he’d like.
He spoke to reporters after his third round at the Dubai Desert Classic, where he shot a 65: “I know I played a wonderful round of golf today. Certainly no complaints about a bogey-free 65 out here. This place is no joke.
“Still doesn’t feel like I can stand on the tee and kind of swing for the fences, and swing loosely. It’s all very contrived and manufactured, and it happened to go straight today. If I get off the tee and in a decent position, I can really do some damage.
“But I really would like to be able to stand on the tee box and swing hard and know that the ball is going to go fairly straight.”
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Hovland appears to be playing around the issue and still delivering results, so it’s not massive at this time. But judging from his comments, it doesn’t feel like this is a sustainable way for him to hit fairways off the tee.
Hopefully, he can play through this injury and recover throughout the season.
Viktor Hovland gave a promising update before the Dubai Desert Classic
It wasn’t a great 2025 for Hovland, but he’s optimistic that he’ll have a good season in 2026. Before the Dubai Desert Classic, he said he’s feeling close to his best again after working with his coach, Grant Waite.
Hovland said, “I took a few weeks off at the end of the year, and been out here the past couple weeks just practicing and getting ready. It was pretty rough, and weren’t really happy with how things were looking, either.
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“But Grant came out here last week, and I think we really got down to, okay, how do I actually solve this problem, and as soon as I found the feel for it, it started looking almost like it did back in the day.
“And that was really nice to see. Because conceptually, I’ve understood what I was doing, but it was so difficult to recreate it for some reason.
“I just couldn’t understand what I needed to feel or what it needed to — or how I accomplished it, and I would say on the Saturday, last week, really started to look a lot better and it’s been a slow and steady progress every single day.
“It might be a little bit too quick this week, but I’m really happy with just how things are trending. Yeah, it might be a little too soon this week, but I think this year is going to be a good one.”
We’d all like to see the ever-entertaining Hovland healthy enough to give him a shot at returning to his PGA Tour-winning form.
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