The golden boys – also known as Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg – have company, as the two 20-somethings from Scandinavia form part of an increasingly large contingent from that part of the world aiming to have an impact on the Majors.
Indeed, in this 125th iteration of the US Open, the collection of Swedes, Danes and Norse – no fewer than eight of them – reflects the growing numbers with tour cards playing at a world level.
Hovland, the 27-year-old Norwegian, again showcased his class with an impressive second-round 68 for a midway total of 139 to move into contention.
For Hovland – competing in his 24th Major of his career, and with runners-up finishes in the 2023 and ’24 US PGAs, a fourth placed finish in the 2022 Open and a seventh-placed finish in the 2023 Masters – it has been a case of knocking on the door in the various Major championships without managing to secure the breakthrough.
For a time, it seemed Hovland’s star had waned. Of late, it has started to shine bright again, his remedial work on his swing seeming to click into a gear that has brought a smile back to his face. Three successive missed cuts in the Genesis, Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players has been followed by a sustained run of form, including a win – the seventh of his PGA Tour career – in the Valspar Championship.
Solid performances in the season’s opening two Majors – tied-21st at the Masters, tied-28th in the US PGA – provided a platform to kick on here, and he has done just that with a sense that deliverance could yet be at hand.
“I still haven’t been overly confident in my ball-striking up until recently. But last week we saw some really good progress, and earlier this week was very happy with some of the shots that I was hitting out there in the practice rounds. I’m super excited that I was able to take that out with me in the tournament,” admitted Hovland, who claimed an eagle, five birdies, a double bogey and three bogeys in an adventurous round which was anything but dull.
The chip-in eagle came on the 17th, his eighth hole of a round which had started in the cool of the cloud covered morning on the 10th, while the double bogey on the second – “I got US Opened right there,” he claimed – provided a speed bump.
He explained: “That was frustrating. Obviously played really well up until that point and didn’t want to miss it left off the tee, so I kind of over-sliced it a foot in the rough, and I was expecting a lie that I could just chase up the green there, but couldn’t even cover the bunker, and then it’s up against the lip.
“I did a good job just to get it out in the fairway, and then hit my wedge shot too short and actually made a nice two-putt for a double bogey. At least I was playing really well up until that point, so you’ve just got to go back to what you were doing before.”
Of the swing coming back into sync, Hovland – looking to be the first Norwegian male to win a Major and only the second Scandinavian, with Henrik Stenson holding that distinction on his own – said: “I don’t have to overthink [the swing] when I’m out there, because you can’t play at your best at a US Open at this golf course if you’re having to think mechanically too much. I’ve just gotten off the ball nicely and just seeing the shots and somehow the balls are, for the most part, behaving itself.”
