At the end of the year, either Scottie Scheffler or Xander Schauffele will be honored with the Jack Nicklaus Award for PGA Tour Player of the Year.
Reigning FedEx Cup Playoffs champ Viktor Hovland didn't exactly endorse a candidate in the race. But, the 27-year-old with major aspirations revealed whose season he, as a competitor and peer, is more impressed by.
Viktor Hovland weighs in
Hovland met with media on Tuesday ahead of the FedEx St. Jude Championship — the first leg of the PGA Tour's three-week postseason — which begins Thursday at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
When prompted by reporter to “choose” if he would rather “have” Scheffler or Schauffele's 2024 season, Hovland didn't hedge.
“I mean, two majors. That sounds pretty nice to me,” Hovland replied, implying Schauffele. He did not elaborate.
Schauffele, the no. 2 ranked player in the world, won the PGA Championship at Valhalla and the Open Championship at Royal Troon. Before his epic major season, Schauffele had been the second-steadiest player on the PGA Tour, after Scheffler.
Scheffler has six titles in 2024, including the Masters. The World No. 1 won four of the PGA Tour's eight signature events, and the lucrative Players Championship. Of course, Scheffler won the gold medal in thrilling fashion at the Paris Olympics, too. (Schauffele, the defending gold medalist, held a 54-hole lead).
And looks to Scheffler for a spark
Hovland momentarily had a claim as the best golfer in the world 11 months ago, when he won the BMW Championship and TOUR Championship. Since then, it's been a surprising struggle for the 26-year-old Norwegian.
“Yeah, hasn’t been my best year,” Hovland admitted in Memphis. “Struggled for basically the whole year. It’s been a little bit challenging.”
In 13 events in 2024, Hovland — now arguably the best player without a major after Schauffele's breakthrough — has only one top-5 finish — a T3 at Valhalla, where he and Bryson DeChambeau made electric charges in the second-to-last group.
Overall, Hovland seemed to be turning a corner, as he responded to a Masters missed cut with three straight top-25s. He hasn't carded a better result since. DataGolf ranks Hovland no. 18; he was 3rd after the '23 FedEx Cup.
“It feels like it's been a lot of peaks and valleys. I mean, it's just not that fun to play golf when you don't know where the ball is going,” Hovland said Tuesday.
Since Hovland doesn't have the results to lean on, he's embracing the underdog mindset, while trying to vicariously tap into the confidence of somebody who does.
“I feel like maybe I've been an underdog in some way my whole life, so I guess I'm kind of used to that position,” he said. ” … I know that I've slipped up a little bit this year. I haven't been playing as well as I would have liked. I'm just working on the things that I need to work on to get back to where I was last year. Then I believe I can do some great things again.
“Scottie winning six times this year, he probably believes he can win the next three (events). So why wouldn't you try to do that? And that goes for everyone, I think. We're all hungry.”
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