THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Viktor Hovland to the interview room here at The Memorial Tournament Presented By Workday, the 2023 champion. Viktor, just starting off, how special is it to come back to this place, Jack's place, where you've won and just knowing the memories you've made here?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it's really cool. I've played here a few times now and every time I was looking forward to trying to conquer the golf course because it's so hard, and up until 2023 I felt like I had played a lot of good golf but just didn't quite get the finishes that I wanted. So it was really nice to finally get a win there in 2023. First win in the United States, and it was kind of the first win on a really big-boy golf course and a great field. So that was a big week for me.
THE MODERATOR: You mentioned the golf course. It's obviously a very unique test. What exactly do you enjoy about Muirfield Village and just the challenge this place presents.
VIKTOR HOVLAND: I enjoy the challenge, but that's more so like after the round. During the round it's just so stressful, especially when it's blowing. I played 18 holes yesterday and it was kind of a weird wind, a lot of crosswinds, and on those tee shots it gets very difficult to hold the fairways. The rough is probably as thick as I've ever seen it, so if you're not good off the tee, you're just going to be grinding for pars all day. Yeah, it's just a really tough golf course.
THE MODERATOR: Making your first start since the PGA, I guess how would you assess where the game's at? You were at home last week and how are you feeling coming into the week here?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I'm seeing some more progress back home. Even the PGA was -- there was some improvement there, I would say. I still hit way too many poor shots with the driver off the tee. I kind of had the snipe hooks at the PGA but managed to really shoot a score from there, so I was quite happy with that.
And kind of the last week in Stillwater, I didn't really hit any of the lefts, at least. Starting to kind of get some predictability off the tee and, hopefully, that will continue and help me this week. As long as I just kind of have one shot, it doesn't have to be amazing, but I can kind of predict and know where it's going, then I can play.
THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll open it up for questions.
Q. On this journey, you've had the last year or whatever, how much is mental, how much is physical? Talking to guys on TOUR, they say it's mostly mental, this game, but how do you break it down percentage-wise and then kind of why?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it's like an endless question. I think I heard Padraig answer that, and he's more in the camp of saying it's almost all mental and -- and it is kind of weird. It is all mental and it is all physical, but you both have to -- you have to do 'em both at the same time.
But at the end of the day if your technique or the physics of your golf swing are not matching up and the ball's going everywhere, it doesn't matter how you think. You've got to correct some issues in order to see the ball go where you want it to. And then I think the mental part becomes more and more important as your game starts to become better, when you're really close to posting a really good score, maybe you're just kind of letting a couple bad swings really upset you or you're maybe not that confident yet.
So that's where I feel like the mental side of it. If you can kind of push that and just believe, even though the results aren't quite there yet, I think that's where it's really important. But at the end of the day you can't think your way around to a 65 out there at Muirfield. You're going to have to hit the shots and if you don't have 'em, then, well, you got to work on it.
Q. Is one harder than the other?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Probably, but I don't think it's the same for everybody. It just depends. I would say at some points maybe the mental stuff has been way easier for me and then other times it's been the other way around. I would say the physical stuff has always been easier to me because I've always had a very repeatable pattern and then when it's not as repeatable, well, then the physical becomes a little bit more difficult. And, yeah, it's just a journey, I guess.
Q. This is the 50th Memorial tournament. I'm wondering if you could go big picture and just talk about the importance of this event or its prestige, how you view it.
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I mean, I remember watching this tournament growing up in Norway, and I didn't watch that many tournaments on TV, but I knew that, okay, this week is the Memorial tournament and a list of great champions have won this event, including watching Tiger win multiple times when I was younger and obviously just seeing everyone shake Mr. Nicklaus's hand after winning on the 18th green.
Like, it's pretty special. It's just such a unique golf course, such a cool place. I really enjoy it here. Yeah, really lucky to be a part of that, a past winner, so just cool to be a part of it.
Q. It's a great field here this week, it's a Signature Event. Do you ever think about or even care who else is in the tournament? Is it more just about what you're doing and how you see a golf course? Does the field really matter?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Sure, the field matters, but at the end of the day I'm here to just do a job and play the best I can play. But I think it does -- you know, if the tournament is missing the top 5 players in the world and if they are in, like, there is a difference in vibe or atmosphere for the tournament, and obviously as a player, I want to play against the best players in the world. I think it's more fun for me to compete against those guys. So I want to play in the best fields, but at the end of the day I got to focus on my own stuff.
Q. In years past at this tournament I've seen you post on your socials before coming to the tournament. You've done some sightseeing, like going to see the prison from Shawshank Redemption. Did you do any of that here last year and is that something you do at other TOUR stops and what motivates you to do that?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I like to because we travel so much and a lot of times we go to the same places, but we only see hotels and golf course and a couple restaurants. But yeah, two years ago I checked out -- went to Mansfield and checked out some of the Shawshank spots because my old swing coach, Joe Mayo, he's a big movie guy. Like, he goes to places where they have shot famous movies, and he said, Oh, it's about an hour from here. You want to go and check it out? I said sure.
Then last year, my dad and cousin came for this tournament, so I just said, Hey, let's just do that, and they loved it as well. So I try to go to certain places if I think it's worth seeing because it gets pretty monotonous just being on the golf course and hotels and airports every single week.
But at the same time I've had my hands full on the range the last couple years, so I haven't had that much time to sightsee, but, hopefully, we're getting closer to be able to do that again.
Q. I was going to ask if anyone's asked about your swing, and if they haven't, I'm not about to. I'm just curious --
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Thank you. (Laughing.)
Q. In your years now, have you found a schedule that works for you or do you find yourself tinkering year to year too much, too less, when to play, weeks before majors, not playing, that kind of stuff?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: I've generally taken a week off before majors. That's kind of what I generally tend to do. But I'm pretty flexible when it comes to scheduling. Recent years, I haven't been playing very much because I've been prioritizing the weeks at home to get some good work in and, hopefully, push the technique and push kind of what I want to see in my golf game in the right direction to where I feel like I can test it out in the tournament versus before, I would say I kind of knew what I was doing. It was so automatic, it was so on repeat, that if I just played a tournament, I just wanted to play another tournament right away. So I would play a lot more. I would play more weeks in a row, and I think when you're younger getting more experience and just playing different places, playing all over the world, I think that's very beneficial.
But right now, I need to kind of get my game into where I feel like it's better week-in, week-out, and then, hopefully, I can start to play a little bit more tournaments. That's kind of where I'm looking at it.
Q. I could look this up myself, but I would rather you do it. Of all the tournaments on the schedule, do you know which ones you haven't played and which ones you would kind of like to if it ever works out for you?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: I can't think of all of 'em, but, yeah, I haven't been to, like, American Express. I think I would like to play that one. I haven't played Valero Texas Open.
Q. Week before a major.
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah. So there's --
Q. Sony?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Never played Sony, yeah.
Q. They just had a volcano erupt too, so you should good go.
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Oh, really? I've heard lots of good things about that golf course. It's just like -- I mean, I would love to play all over the place. It's not always that feasible and sometimes things come in the way. But I would like to get to those tournaments at some point.
Q. We are three years removed, this tournament, when they first came out with the first batch of LIV players, Dustin and Poulter and whoever else it was. Does it feel like three years ago or does everything just seem the way it is?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it's kind of weird. I basically turned pro right in the middle of COVID, and that's five years ago, and it's like -- yeah, it just feels weird. It feels like it almost didn't happen anymore. It's like we're in a different timeline right now.
Yeah, things have definitely gone fast, but then we're still kind of in the same position, kind of in a stalemate. So it's a little bit weird, but certainly miss some of those guys. But, yeah, got to focus on my things this week.
Q. (No Microphone.)
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, for sure. It definitely seems like that way.
Q. I'm wondering if you have been to Oakmont, or if you haven't, are you planning to go next week?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: I haven't planned on it. I haven't been there before --
Q. What do you know about it?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: I've seen some videos. It seems like the rough is pretty thick already. And then I saw there was maybe a discussion about, like, a lot of the trees that they have taken away, like, generally in course design, and it seems that there's not a whole lot of trees on the property.
But obviously, huge property with fairways and just a lot of rough, and I've heard the greens were pretty fascinating. So it will be interesting to check out.
Q. Yeah, they're famously fast.
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah.
Q. We always talk about great par-3s in golf when we think about postage stamp and we think about 12 at Augusta, etcetera. Do you have any favorites or par-3s you like that are, like, really long?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: That are really long? Yeah, there's probably not many of 'em. What do you classify as like, really long?
Q. It's 300 at Oakmont in a few weeks, but I was thinking more -- I don't know. I mean, hang on a second. 6 at Quail Hollow. That's about 250, wasn't it?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah.
Q. Downhill, but...
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah. I think it --
Q. I'm not saying that's great, by the way, but just as an example of length.
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, man, that's a hard hole because it's, like, you got to be so precise from back there, and you're hitting a 3-iron or I hit a 7-wood a couple times. Yeah, I mean, it just becomes hard. I just don't think when you have to make a hole that long, it just doesn't become that great. It just becomes like, okay, you got a certain target here and then you got to hit a shot around there and make a par and get out of there instead of a shorter par-3 that entices you to get close to it, but if you're a little bit off, you're either in the water or in a short-sided spot or if you bail out, yeah, you still have a tricky little putt.
I just think all the best par-3s are under 200. You can maybe have it just over 200, but as soon as you start to take head covers off on par-3s, I just think it gets a little silly.
Q. You talk about hitting 3-iron or 7-wood into No. 6 at the PGA. I know this is dictated by wind or other conditions, but when else do you hit a 3-iron?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: I mean, I know I've done it, but I just can't think of the holes.
Q. I'm talking about anywhere on a golf course, outside of a par-5, do you ever hit a 3-iron?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I got close here yesterday when I played 17 into the wind, it was a good drive and a good 4-iron in there. So you still get some courses, especially with wind conditions or weather conditions, you hit some big clubs into par-4s.
Q. But you have to have wind, it would seem like.
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, yeah, I don't think you're playing just a normal course from the back tees and it's a driver, 3-iron every time. You're not really doing that a whole lot any more.
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