Weekend: Hovland Wins The Valspar
Struggling tinkerer returns to form in a week when tempers flared. Plus, LIVsters book Open trips, notes from the golf world, NBC-USGA poll results, and Tiger says love is in the air.
Instead of a post-Players letdown, the looming specter of The Masters appeared to bring out the best in two stars who each, not-so-coincidentally, love to tinker. Probably too much.
During a Valspar Championship Sunday when nine different players held a share of the lead at some point, Viktor Hovland emerged with the unlikeliest win of the year. He came into the Valspar off three missed cuts, with only two cuts made in six 2025 starts. And we just learned he fired another coach. Not exactly outright win-bet material.
Even Hovland was surprised to emerge from the pack with two birdies over the vaunted “Snake Pit” finishing stretch where, just moments before, the trio of finishing holes claimed his nearest pursuer, Justin Thomas.
“It's been quite the struggle the past year and a half,” Hovland said after his final round 67. “So for me to come back and win this tournament is quite incredible because, yeah, I was not very hopeful with my game leading into this week and, yeah, just goes to show this game is pretty crazy.”
Hovland came into the Valspar off a first-round 80 at TPC Sawgrass and admitted after Sunday’s win that he was not sure he’d even start the event. But after nine holes Tuesday and another nine in the pro-am Wednesday, Hovland became convinced to take on Innisbrook.
“Wasn't sure I was going to show up, but I'm glad I did.”
Hovland hardly sounded rejuvenated, even after finishing one clear of Thomas and two ahead of Jacob Bridgeman. A dour post-round assessment of his game, even after winning on a tough course over a two-time major winner, prompted NBC’s Dan Hicks to note that it had to one of the more bizarre winner interviews you’ll ever hear.
Hovland has reached this strange place despite winning a steady climb to stardom that started with a U.S. Amateur and less than two years ago a resounding FedExCup performance which made him 2024’s player to watch. But a relentless and dangerous quest for perfection has led to last year’s turbulence and the instruction “team” taking the blame.
The latest to take on Hovland’s swing is former PGA Tour winner Grant Waite.
“I've been taking a lot of videos and sending it to Grant and Grant was here early in the week and we did some good work,” Hovland said. “I feel like we pushed things in the right direction. It didn't fix anything by any means, but it definitely mitigated some of the stuff that I was already doing.”
The Valspar title is Hovland’s seventh in 120 PGA Tour starts and first since the 2023 Tour Championship. The 27-year-old Norwegian rode a hot putter to the title, gaining 7.353 strokes with the short stick. Hovland will move from No. 19 to No. 8 in the Official World Golf Ranking and move up the Ryder Cup rankings after starting the week 105th in the European rankings.
He now heads to Augusta off a missed cut last year that derailed what looked like a burgeoning future in the Masters when he went T32 in his debut and secured low amateur honors, followed by a T21 in 2021, a T27 in ‘22 and a T7 in 2023.
Thomas (runner-up/-10) also continues to claw back closer to his prior form. The two-time PGA Champion was 7-under through 15 holes before playing the Snake Pit two-over. Bogeys on Nos. 16 and 18 came after wild drives he’ll need to button up before Augusta. Still, Thomas finished with a 5-under 66, which, when combined with his second-round 62 at The Players, suggests he’ll be a legitimate threat in Augusta.
Also…
54-hole co-leader Jacob Bridgeman (3rd/-9) collected his second top-three finish this season (T2/Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches).
Bud Cauley continued his resurgence with a (T4/-8) after a bogey-free final round 66.
Billy Horschel (T4/-8) posts his second top-10 finish in 10 starts this season (T9/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) but made even more news with a birdie after a lefthanded shot. It opens the highlight package:
Tommy Bolt Would Be Proud
Maybe it was the stress of playing a tournament after two weeks of Signature Event caliber food? Look, there is nothing like wild-caught salmon compared to that farmed stuff.
Or perhaps the Valspar tantrums were a subtle homage to Tommy Bolt’s final career victory in the 1961 Pensacola Open?
Hey, you know how the kids today love their golf history.
Either way, Patton Kizzire, Sahith Theegala, Adam Hadwin, and Jordan Spieth each paid tribute to the master club hurler/kicker/slammer/breaker/cusserer with a quadrilateral of quackery.
After missing a short putt at the Valspar, Kizzire punted his Ping Vault “Bergen Stealth” across the green, reportedly causing it to bend. While paramedics tended to the warped weapon, Kizzire would later WD, citing a back issue.
Then, Sahith Theegala went with a dual-toss effort after hitting a par-3 iron shot at the Valspar en route to a second-round 72 that was good enough to reach the weekend. I’d have embedded the video but it seems the PGA Tour isn’t entirely out of the takedown game just yet.
Not to be outdone, Adam Hadwin took a club to an innocent irrigation head. Karma intervened in prime pronto fashion:
It all made Jordan Spieth’s not-so-subtle F-bomb Sunday look practically churchlike.
Safe to say the lads will be glad to leave Innisbrook.
Ortiz, Reed And Kokrak Qualify For The Open
LIV’s Carlos Ortiz, Patrick Reed and Jason Kokrak qualified for The Open at Royal Portrush via the International Series’ Macau stop.
Ortiz dominated the Asian Tour final day with a 64 and 22-under-par total, finishing three clear of Reed whose runner-up finish provided the best evidence to date that he is not in the witness protection program.
”I am overjoyed to be heading to The Open,” Ortiz said. “It was a good week.”
Kokrak took third place in the Open Qualifying Series event, finishing six back of Ortiz and will head to Royal Portrush this July thanks a missed three-footer at the last hole by Sergio Garcia. The two-time Open runner-up and Captain of the FrozenBalls would have qualified had he made the putt. No video has surfaced but I’m sure it wasn’t his fault.
The 33-year-old Ortiz has taken a backseat to teammate Joaquin Niemann after moving to LIV. He has one win in Houston where he also captured a PGA Tour title in 2020. The Guadalajara, Mexico native attended University of North Texas. So he really likes Texas.
Reed’s final-day 67 ensured a return to Portrush. He finished there 10th in 2019, his best effort in nine Open appearances.
“Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the win,” said Reed. “But, you know, anytime you can play bogey-free on Sundays, always positive. To go and finish solo second, get at spot in The Open, it means a lot.”
Also…
Richard Mansell claimed his maiden DP World Tour win by birdieing the last hole to win the weather-shortened Porsche Singapore Classic. Thursday’s washout shortened the event to 54 holes at Laguna National Golf Resort Club, where apparently the shapers were paid by the cubic yard of earth moved. Godawful does not begin to describe it.
The 29-year-old Mansell’s birdie held off Japan’s Keita Nakajima, with recent LIV defector Tom McKibbon finishing third. Mansell’s win moves him atop the Asian Swing ranking with two more events to go. The swing leader earns a berth into the PGA Championship.Angela Stanford was named Captain for the 2026 U.S. Solheim Cup team after serving as a USA assistant three times. The seven-time winner and six-time contestant will lead the Americans at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands from Sept. 11-13, 2026.