Viktor Hovland completes unlikely journey from Oslo to Pebble Beach
Viktor Hovland, the 20-year-old Oklahoma State Cowboy from Oslo, Norway, dominated Devon Bling 6&5 in their U.S. Amateur final match on Sunday to become the first Norwegian to lift the Havemeyer Trophy.
The warm coastline of Monterey Bay, California that makes up Pebble Beach couldn’t be any more different than Oslo, Norway. For Viktor Hovland, however, it feels just like home.
Hovland, the 20-year-old Oklahoma State Cowboy, dominated the competition at the U.S. Amateur all week before defeating Devon Bling 6&5 in Sunday’s final to become the first Norwegian to win amateur golf’s top prize.
So spectacular was Hovland the past few days that he only trailed once during the tournament, and not for his last 86 holes. Against Bling he took the lead on the fourth hole of the 36-hole final and held it the rest of the day. The way he took the lead is testament to how he was playing.
His tee shot at the short par-four fell 40 feet down the cliff before settling on top of a plant. Undeterred, Hovland climbed down the steep slope to play the shot and hit it to three feet.
“What a shot. He’ll never forget that birdie,” Alan Bratton, his caddie and coach at Oklahoma State, said.
By the end of the first 18 holes Hovland had a 4-up lead, his opponent Bling unable to match Hovland’s play. The Norwegian won four straight holes from eight to 11, three of them with just a par. Bling regrouped for the second 18 after a short break, including holing a 50-footer for birdie at the ninth. After three-putting at the 12th, however, Hovland went dormie. When Bling missed a 28-footer at the 13th the match was officially over. Hovland played just 104 holes this week, tying the record for fewest since the U.S. Amateur’s current format began in 1979.
“I always thought I had a pretty good vocabulary, but yeah, I’m lost for words,” Hovland said.
Norway isn’t exactly a nation known for its great golfers. Just six Norwegians are inside the top 1000 on the World Golf Rankings, none in the top 400. Hovland took up the game at the age of four only because his father drove past a driving range on his way to work while living in the United States.
But other sports drew Hovland’s attention until the age of 11, when he decided to escape Norway’s harsh winters and begin playing in an indoor practice facility. He is not only the first Norwegian amateur champion, but he will become the first player from his home country to play in the Masters next April. Hovland hopes that achievement serves as an inspiration to the next generation of Norwegian golfers.
“I’m just trying to do the best I can,” he said. “But it would be sweet to kind of be the front man for Norway.”
Amateur success has been slow to come to Hovland. He had won just one tournament outside Norway before this week, the Valspar Collegiate in March. In June he led Oklahoma State to the NCAA Championship, winning all three of his matches. But those results only revealed part of the immense talent within this 20-year-old, talent which was firmly on display at Pebble Beach this week.
“I’ve only won once before, and to win the U.S. Amateur as my second win is really cool,” he said. “It’s hard to top that. I just hope it’s the start of something great.”
It’s still too early to know for certain what kind of career awaits Hovland. The list of names already inscribed on the Havemeyer Trophy includes some of the game’s greats, but also players who never had much of a pro career. When seeing his name alongside the likes of Tiger Woods on the trophy, Hovland says he hopes he is the next one for which the U.S. Amateur served as a step towards bigger things.
“If I can follow Tiger and those other players for even just a few footsteps, that would be really special,” he said.
By winning the U.S. Amateur, Hovland earns exemptions into next year’s Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship. He will find one perk of being Amateur champion: the April weather in Augusta is a lot better than in Oslo.