Viktor Hovland describes challenges of Pinehurst No. 2 | Live From the U.S. Open | Golf Channel

Viktor Hovland joins Live From the U.S. Open to discuss what makes Pinehurst No. 2 so challenging, the improvements in his short game and his mentality heading into the U.S. Open. #GolfChannel #USOpen #Pinehurst
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Viktor Hovland describes challenges of Pinehurst No. 2 | Live From the U.S. Open | Golf Channel
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on this Tuesday edition of live from how are you yeah good tell you what I’m hearing a lot of exhales and seeing some big eyes as players try to describe the challenge of pineur number two how would you describe it yeah I’m one of those people for sure um I was just I was here like five years ago just played for fun and uh it was right before the US Amer here actually just playing with a couple buddies and I just remember the course being soft we played one step off the back on every hole and it was long and that was kind of the main takeaway that I took away from that day but now when I come back and just see all the potential pin placements I’m like this could be uh this could be pretty dicey um there’s some there’s some hard spots out there Victor I was lucky enough to be assigned to your match at the Ryder Cup in Rome uh your singles match on Sunday against marawa and uh colins played great but you you absolutely suffocated him with just how strong your game was you when he hit a par five two and he was 20t you hit a par 5- two and you hit 10t closer um it was one of the most impressive performances I’d ever seen you go on to win the FedEx Cup and then you switched swing coaches I’m like man what is he thinking um what did you learn from that whole process you know now I think you’ve switched back and and sort of moving forward sort of trying to settle your mechanics but I saw you working earlier in this year on the new stuff and you’re you put in about 7even hours on the Range cuz I was there working on some my my trying to get not as much as you but my trying to work on my own game but um you certainly can Garner things from these processes what did you take away from it yeah hey it’s it’s a journey I just kind of like the process of getting better probably a little bit too much um but uh I I felt like it was a necessary route for me to go down and and just see um I think just like I’m I’m just such a curious guy that like when you you wonder what’s on the other side of the door you just kind of want to peek through it and um I think peeking is fine but I probably just just ran through the wall um but uh I think I learned a lot about myself um and what not to do what to do and kind of what makes my game tick and uh I feel like now I’m in an even even better spot mentally uh than I was last year even though not playing quite as good good yet but I think we’re on the right track and and um I’m just super excited about the next you know next few years and the future fantastic I remember at Bay Hill earlier this year Victor you said you described yourself as as very inquisitive and you’ve always been that way and that’s what’s gotten you to this point in the game how difficult is it to maintain a sense of discipline when you you are tempted to go see what’s behind the door and is there a point where you have to remind yourself that a little bit of discipline is required in terms of how much information you want to take on board um sure I I that’s always a challenge but I I I would like to believe um that the more information you gather uh and the smarter you become you also close a lot of doors so a lot of ideas or uh opportunities or Avenues to go down they kind of go away because you know a lot of a lot of them are dumb or foolish or it just doesn’t work for me so but that’s also the the the tricky side is that a lot of the doors you close the doors that remain there seem even more interesting to go through or see what’s on the other side so I think that’s that’s kind of the uh um yeah the other side to that but uh now as we talked about the last 6 months I feel like I I close a lot of doors and there aren’t that many doors remaining I feel like I’m I know exactly what I need to do to to fill the remaining holes in my games and there aren’t that many places or there like I’m not going to skew too far off of that uh process going forward so now I can put all my time and energy into kind of One Direction and uh should hopefully see that the uh uh results kind of improve let’s keep the door analogy going PGA Championship 68 66 66 66 was that a moment for you you know crossing a threshold gaining some trust ahead of a week like this yeah I mean that was big after not playing very good all year to finding kind of one feel that made me hit the ball a little bit better and I was just able to take that and almost win a major championship so I I was really proud of that just taking a lot of uh positives from that week cuz um that was that didn’t feel like my best off at all like I was uncomfortable over the ball but the ball was going straighter and straighter and straighter so then it’s it’s I can play with that and then I tripped tripped it well and I puted it well so um I just think that’s really cool to see after one week of getting back together with Joe and and um and we already saw massive improvements right away so if we just keep spending time together and keep working on the right stuff we’re g to uh I think we’re going to do some do some good stuff one of the the huge improvements that you and Joe made what was in your short game and it was very noticeable um in watching that match with marawa some of the up and downs you made were REM able and having such a challenge here around these green complexes is there anything specific that you’re working on um to sort of address you know these these difficult uh chips that you’re going to be facing yeah I think we kind of spent yesterday trying out all the different shots it wasn’t like oh I’m just going to put every everywhere and then uh stop it at that I tried to kind of hit some higher spinning shots some lower spinning shots and kind of concluded that the higher spinning shots um yes you might pull them off and it looks really good and you can get it really close to some pin locations but I think the more balls I put down and try to hit the sh same shot multiple times in a row it’s just very very difficult because of the grain so I think um with that grain around the greens it’s just very easy to look like a fool so I think the the lower kind of driving spinning shot uh is going to be very very important or I’m just going to putt it a lot so uh I don’t know quite how that um if it’ll be like 50/50 maybe chipping and putting but um I definitely see myself a lot of like lower driving spinning shots into into around the green spere we were just having a discussion on how guys reacted coming from a tough test like Memorial where a lot of guys got beaten up over the course of the weekend coming in here is that a confidence builder in the sense that you’ve gone through the ringer a little bit or does it kind of knock you for six a little bit if you don’t have a good weekend I I I think mentally maybe prepares you that you’re in uh that frame of thinking where you know pars are good middle of the greens are good uh you don’t try to press too much I think if you play just a bunch of easy courses and you’re shooting 20 under par you can kind of go to sleep a little bit when you come to a place like this uh because I think um yeah you got to be extremely conservative going into some of these greens and it’s so easy with a with a pitch and wedge that oh I’m going to take this on and make a birdie and you miss it by two yards you’re over the green and and you’re staring at bog your double in the face so I I think U sure it helps you a little bit but it can also give you some Scar Tissue as well and no one’s going to sleep at Pine H up at night tell you one of the conversations that happens throughout the year in golf is is the best player without a major championship that that’s a box that Xander shley probably checked uh last month at the GA Championship how do you see yourself among the best players without a major championship by official World Golf Ranking you are how do you approach that conversation yeah I’m not going to rank myself but um I mean I’ve only been out here for five years and uh already had a chance to compete for a few major championships and um I think it’s just really cool to see that i’ I’ve grown every single year and I feel like I’m getting closer and closer and closer um so that’s just really cool um you know I’d like to one soon but um just kind of focused on improving the things that I got to improve and hopefully I give myself more opportunities and um you know one of these days the the putts will kind of drop my way and and uh we’ll get one of them done and as far as your approach toward the golf course you talked about the green complexes but in terms of te to Green what’s been your impression uh with pineur it’s such a unique design that we typically don’t see regularly that takes a you know maybe a little bit of an understanding of just kind of hot to navigate uh some of these areas yeah I think there’s a really good mix of holes I still haven’t obviously I played here once before but I still haven’t seen the back n yet so I don’t remember too much but feel like there’s a really good mix of some long tough par fors which we usually see in the US Open but at the same time there’s some shorter holes as well where you kind of have to position yourself off the te you can hit driver but you probably won’t see too many drivers on those holes and even if you have wedges the green complexes are really really tough so there’s still drama on the short holes as well so I I think it’s an exceptional Golf Course um but um yeah it’s going to test every single part of your game I think off the te generally you can be pretty aggressive off the te I think you’re going to have to drive it really well to be in contention this week but into the green I think you’re going to have to be pretty conservatively you just uh hit as many greens as possible I think that’s that’s where the tournament’s going to be won when the perception is that the closer you get to the business end of the hole the more difficult this golf course gets does that change how you prepare for this week over the today and tomorrow before you get to that teach shot on Thursday uh meaning like in terms of where you’re going to put emphasis on your preparation work for this tournament uh it doesn’t really change too much for me I think um I’m just kind of working on my personal uh goals and and the things that I need to improve on I’m just going to keep working on those um I I do think like making sure the reads are right the speed is right on the greens and just you know paying attention to how much firmer the greens get uh closer to Thursday you know that sort of stuff but as of uh overall kind of work goals and and stuff like that those are I’m doing that stuff every day just to make sure that it’s pushing in the right direction and um I’m hitting the shots and hitting the windows that I wanted wanted to how about your tea time late early along side Bryson to Shambo who who brings the the circus to the party as you know and Max homo’s playing very well does that affect your preparation at all in terms of the time or who you’re going to be playing with uh no I mean i’ I’d like to think that as a professional I I don’t let like whoever I’m playing with affecting me but it it does on on an unconscious level I think regardless but I think it’ll be cool like uh Bryson style is very unique and it’s kind of fun to see him play golf and uh Max is also a really good player I play with him on Sunday and um yeah it’ll be interesting to see kind of how they handle this golf course but I I’ll try to do I’ll try to focus on my own game as as best I can when you left Valhalla did you leave with was it more disappointment that you were so close and put yourself in the mix or was it the positive that you found for him that that hadn’t been there for a couple of months for you oh I was I was pumped um you know I can’t be can’t be too upset like I it was uh sure I would have liked to to made the putt on 17 and 18 and um and think oh what then what would have happened then but it’s like okay I was I was pretty far away just couple weeks before the PGA and I uh made a mistake by admitting that I almost didn’t show up to PGA and not playing so you know plot twist to have a chance to to win the tournament like I mean how can I not be pumped about that result so um sure at the end of the day like if that’s the the last major I play in my life like yeah I’d be disappointed I didn’t win it but at the same time I’m just super pumped about the future and and and just kind of coming back to playing some good golf again and and see what I’m going to be able to do we could talk to you all afternoon long I know you got a A major championship to prepare for Victor thanks so much for stopping by and best luck this week got it thank you guys here he is FedEx Cup Championship winter