빅토르 호블란드는 TOUR Championship에서 스콧티 셸플러에게 3타차로 준우승했다. 54홀까지는 1타 선두였지만 최종날 패배했다. 하지만 호블란드는 그 결과에 만족하지 않는다. 스스로의 경기 내용이 마음에 들지 않기 때문이다.
01퍼팅은 좋았지만 볼스트라이킹은 엉망
"내 천장과 비교하면 난 그 근처에도 못 갔다"고 호블란드는 말했다. "만약 내가 예년의 정상 경기를 했다면, 정상의 볼스트라이킹을 했다면 이 토너먼트는 내 것이었을 거다."
호블란드의 주요 문제는 볼스트라이킹이다. 퍼팅으로는 라운드를 이끌고 있었다 - 주간 6+ 스트로크 게인. 하지만 스윙은 다른 이야기였다. 최종날 13번 홀에서 페어웨이를 벗어났고, 17번 홀에서는 100야드 거리의 웨지 샷을 그린 너머로 보냈다.
022023 피크 시절의 코치와 재결합
호블란드는 최근 스윙 코치 Joe Mayo와 재결합했다. Mayo는 2023년 호블란드가 BMW Championship과 TOUR Championship을 연속 우승하며 세계 랭킹 3위까지 올랐을 때의 코치다.
"난 내 원래 DNA에서 너무 멀리 떠나왔다"고 호블란드는 설명했다. "그 DNA에 더 가까이 돌아가고 싶다. 그게 얼마나 어려울지는 봐야겠지만."
03오프시즌 준비
호블란드는 본격적인 오프시즌 스윙 작업을 시작하기 전에 DP World Tour에서 가을에 3경기를 더 뛸 계획이다. 하지만 "솔직히 휴식이 필요하다"고 인정했다. 그 휴식이 끝나면 진정한 작업이 시작된다.
"같은 실수가 계속 반복되는 걸 볼 때마다 답답하다"고 호블란드는 말했다. "처음 3일간은 좋지 않은 스윙이었는데 공은 직진했다. 일요일에는 여전히 좋지 않은 스윙인데 이번엔 공이 옆으로 갔다. 그럼 내가 할 수 있는 게 별로 없는 것 같다."
셸플러가 최종날 4언더 66을 쏠 때, 호블란드는 자신도 그런 수준의 안정성을 가질 수 있다고 생각한다. 하지만 지금은 아직이다. 오프시즌이 그 차이를 메울 기회가 될 것이다.
04Original (English) — PGA TOUR
ATLANTA – Viktor Hovland is looking forward to some extended time off. He has work to do.
Hovland nearly won this week's TOUR Championship on Sunday, finishing runner-up to Scottie Scheffler, but he didn't feel his game was sharp. Hovland scored well, thanks to a red-hot putter, but he wasn't going to let that cloud how the rest of his game felt.
"When we talk about my ceiling, I didn't feel like I was anywhere close to it," said Hovland, who held a one-stroke lead through 54 holes but lost to Scheffler by three.
"If I just had my normal game, my normal ball striking from the previous years, I think I take away this tournament," he added.
That's the crux of the issue. Hovland balked when asked if he is leaving East Lake Golf Club optimistic about his game. It's not that simple. It never is for Hovland. He saw multiple misses on Sunday that concerned him. None were new, but his inability to correct them irked him.
So now Hovland begins an offseason where he expects to make more changes. In recent weeks, he reunited with swing coach Joe Mayo, who was with Hovland during the peak of his powers in 2023, when he won the BMW Championship and TOUR Championship in back-to-back weeks and vaulted to No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Their task will be to recreate that swing again.
"I've deviated so far off of my original DNA, I would like to push that closer to my DNA," Hovland said. "We'll see kind of how difficult that is."
The offseason doesn't begin immediately. Hovland plans to play three events on the DP World Tour this fall, though he admitted he's "frankly ready for a little break." That will come in time. When it does, the real work will begin.
The fact that Hovland was in contention at all was a credit to his putting. He led the field for the week, gaining more than six strokes. It's what helped him race out to 15-under through three rounds. It kept him in the tournament early on Sunday, too.
After bogeying the first hole, Hovland holed numerous mid-range par putts to keep himself atop the leaderboard on the front nine. Hovland managed to maintain a piece of the lead until the 13th hole. There, he missed the fairway and was unable to advance his ball onto the green. A mediocre bunker shot left a lengthy par putt he couldn't hole.
Hovland came to the par-4 17th hole down by two strokes, but still with a chance. Standing in the middle of the fairway, just 100 yards out, he blew a wedge over the green and couldn't get up and down, leading to a bogey that ended his hopes.
"It's just frustrating when I see the same misses coming back time and time again," Hovland said. "The first few days, I felt like I still wasn't swinging it all that great, but the ball went straight. On Sunday, or today, I still wasn't swinging it great, and now the ball went sideways. When that happens, it just doesn't feel like I could have done much today."
Not when Scheffler shoots 66, tied for the best round of the day with 2017 TOUR Championship winner Xander Schauffele. Hovland believes he can reach Scheffler's consistency.
Hovland doesn't have it yet. He will spend the offseason trying to find it.
