Hovland’s ‘weird’ take, LIV’s signal, Ryder Cup tiers | Monday Finish

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where our ‘March Madness’ involves Adam Hadwin and a sprinkler head. To the news …

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GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Trying hard.

There is pretty clearly a gap between the way Viktor Hovland sees the world and the way the rest of the world sees the world. So what’s the difference? I thought one answer from Hovland’s Valspar winner’s press conference told the story.

For context: Hovland’s deep dives into his golf swing (plus the afterlife, among other things) have garnered him plenty of attention. There’s a general perception that he does a ton of research — maybe even too much for his own good. He’s admitted that there are rabbit holes he’s gone down that have been difficult to escape from. But he still believes in learning and experimentation above everything. In one post-win interview, he said the following: “When you’re struggling with something, it’s just problems. And problems are usually a lack of information.” You could build an entire philosophy around that first sentence, but the sentiment is clear: Hovland believes that knowledge will set you free.

Back to Sunday’s press conference, then. Hovland was asked if he thinks it’s accurate to describe him as a perfectionist, and he acknowledged that, sure. “You can use that word to describe it.”

But the subtext was clear: I’m a professional golfer. Of course I’m a perfectionist. What the hell else would I be?

“I find it kind of weird that we’re professional athletes and the people that are wanting to improve are somewhat looked at as, ‘Oh, he’s a perfectionist, he’s out on the perimeter searching too much,'” Hovland said. “It’s like, that’s what we do. We are here to get better and we are here to win tournaments. So if you’re not going to try to get better, what are you doing?”

Hovland is here to try to get better. That much is true — even after a victory. He does not like how his golf swing feels, but he likes where it just got him. And when he got into contention on Sunday, it wasn’t his confidence in his swing that won him the tournament. It was all the little intangibles that make Hovland special. It was the ability to play with what he had. It was jarring every mid-length par putt and then a few for birdie, too. It was, to oversimplify, knowing how to win. And that’s what he did. Viktor Hovland being himself, chasing better and winning along the way? That’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Viktor Hovland won the Valspar Championship to claim his seventh PGA Tour victory. Four of those seven have come at golf resorts adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico — Hovland won at Mayakoba in 2020 and 2021, and Hovland also won the Puerto Rico Open (and he’s won the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas twice). It’s safe to say the Norwegian star isn’t afraid of a vacation destination. Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla. joins esteemed company.

Richard Mansell won the Porsche Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour, finally breaking through in his 104th start on the circuit thanks to a two-putt birdie from over 100 feet on No. 18 at Laguna National Golf Resort Club.

“One thing I’d say to people trying to do it as a career, that moment’s the most fulfilling thing in the world and it’s worth it,” he said. “So stick in and hopefully you’ll get rewarded one day like I have today.”

Carlos Ortiz won the Asian Tour’s International Series event in Macau, earning a berth to this summer’s Open Championship in the process. Ortiz led a contingent of LIV players vying for three spots at Portrush in July; runner-up Patrick Reed and third-place finisher Jason Kokrak will join him there.

Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, Calif. The win was the 61-year-old’s second of 2025 and the 15th PGA Tour Champions victory of his career.

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NOT-WINNERS

Still, these guys are good, too.

Justin Thomas looked like the best version of himself for most of Sunday, high-stepping and fist-pumping his way into the Valspar lead with just three holes to play. Then he fell victim to the “Snake Pit” and made bogey at No. 16; when Hovland birdied 16 and 17 from the group behind him, he flipped the script and that was that. Thomas still hasn’t won since the 2022 PGA Championship and was clearly torn up about coming so close yet again — he’s now finished runner-up in three of his past nine PGA Tour starts — but left sounding determined and encouraged by yet another trip to contention.

“I’ll take a lot of good. Way, way more good than bad. I mean, today was awesome. I felt so comfortable,” he said after a final-round 66. “It sucks not winning when you’re that close and have a great chance, but I just hopefully put myself in the same position in two weeks at Augusta and finish it off better.”

Other notables from the Valspar: Jacob Bridgeman finished solo third; he made every cut and claimed two podiums in the four-event Florida Swing. Bud Cauley finished T4 after a sixth-place result at the Players, showing signs of his best golf in years. Billy Horschel hit a preposterous left-handed shot that turned into the week’s unlikeliest birdie; he finished T4, too. And Davis Riley, who has been in golf’s wilderness since winning last year’s Charles Schwab Challenge, seems to have found something after finishing T6 at the Puerto Rico Open, T38 at the Players and solo seventh this week. Finally, Xander Schauffele‘s Sunday 66 matched the low score of the day and landed him T12.

The week’s real winner was the Valspar, which drew an unexpectedly strong field and got a back-nine battle and photo finish involving two of its biggest stars.

SHORT HITTERS

Four pros losing their minds.

Patton Kizzire punted his putter so high that when you watch the video there’s a moment where you wonder if it’s landed off-screen — for some reason he issued an apology rather than a tutorial. His putter broke, and he withdrew.

Adam Hadwin smashed a sprinkler head and then the sprinkler smashed back; Hadwin was en route to a missed cut when things suddenly got much, much worse. Have you ever seen one of those videos where an enraged football fan throws his remote at the TV, watches the screen break and instantly regrets his action? That was the energy here, but Hadwin had spectators.

Sahith Theegala showed some fire, too, giving a proper club-smash after an errant shot of his own. He finished T36.

And Jordan Spieth did a little bit of everything, as he tends to. But it wasn’t all absurd birdies from the trees; he was filmed uttering a particularly expressive word in a particularly expressive manner after a chip shot he would have liked to have over. He finished T28.

What’s the point? There’s not one overarching point but maybe several little ones: These guys care a lot, golf is ridiculously frustrating, people film stuff now more than ever and, if you’re going to smash your club, choose a patch of grass or sand rather than a live sprinkler head.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

Ryo Hisatsune drinking water.

Brendan Porath of The Fried Egg posted a video of Ryo Hisatsune (who wound up T4) getting handed his water bottle just before he hit a putt on Saturday. “New pre-putt routine dropped,” Porath tweeted. But it turns out this is very literally a pre-putt routine; per Porath’s subsequent reporting, Hisatsune does not swallow the water until after hitting the putt (or other short-game shot). I need to know more.

RYDER CUP WATCH

Hovland makes a move.

We’re almost exactly six months out from the Ryder Cup, which means it’s time to take stock of where things stand for the U.S. and European teams.

TIER I: THE LOCKS

TEAM USA: Barring further ravioli encounters, he U.S. side seems to have three absolute guarantees: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa.

TEAM EUROPE: Rory McIlroy will be there. Shane Lowry will be there. Tommy Fleetwood will be there. Ludvig Aberg will be there. And, after his win, I’m ready to put Viktor Hovland here, too. There are a few LIV guys who seem like locks, too, but let’s save them for the LIV section to share the love.

TIER II: THE PROBABLYS

TEAM USA: Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Russell Henley seem extremely likely to join the party at Bethpage.

TEAM EUROPE: Robert MacIntyre and Sepp Straka aren’t particularly high on the points list but have been playing plenty well enough to earn return invites.

TIER LIV: THE LIV GUYS

TEAM USA: Bryson DeChambeau seems an extremely likely addition, while Brooks Koepka could certainly play his way in with a strong major championship season.

TEAM EUROPE: Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton will be on the team. The open question is who else might join them: Sergio Garcia has shown strong form and youngsters David Puig or Tom McKibbin could play their way into the mix.

TIER III: DON’T MAKE OTHER PLANS JUST YET

This is where we remember just how far we have to go. Max Homa, for instance, could play his way back into form. Matthew Jordan could emerge as a European world-beater. Several hot starters to 2025 could play their way out of form. Here’s who should be invited to the team-bonding BBQ as of this moment, though:

TEAM USA: Daniel Berger, Akshay Bhatia, Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Luke Clanton, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Michael Kim, Denny McCarthy, Mav McNealy, J.J. Spaun, Jordan Spieth, Sahith Theegala, Davis Thompson, Will Zalatoris

TEAM EUROPE: Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Harry Hall, Rasmus Højgaard, Nicolai Højgaard, Stephan Jaeger, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Alex Noren, Niklas Norgaard, Aaron Rai, Justin Rose, Matt Wallace

ONE BIG QUESTION

Still nothing on this LIV-PGA Tour deal, huh?

What does it tell you, my friends, that this LIV-PGA Tour deal does not seem to be making much progress? It tells you that the sides are not terribly close. It tells you that neither side is desperate to make a deal. And that adds up to a world where a deal may not get done anytime soon.

We received more details from Limboland this week via a Webb Simpson interview with Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated; in the interview, Simpson reiterated what we’ve discussed in this space before, which is that a major sticking point in the negotiation is the way in which LIV would downsize (or, in a PGA Tour dream world, disappear) in the event the sides came back together under the Tour umbrella. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi PIF and chairman of LIV Golf, is not eager to abandon his vision for team golf. There remains a gulf there.

But Simpson added something telling: It’s currently the PIF that seems to be dragging its feel on communication.

“It seems like there is a little bit of a breakdown in communication (on the other side),” he says. “On our side, when questions are asked of us, we get answers right away. We’ve been diligent. I don’t now if the same is true on their side. That part has been kind of frustrating.”

The question, then: If the PIF is making alternative plans to a deal with the PGA Tour, what does it have up its sleeve?

ONE THING TO WATCH

Twins with game.

We’ve been incredibly lucky to get some of the game’s most accomplished players on “Warming Up,” my on-the-range interview series. From big-time major champs like Phil and Brooks to the Tour’s top stars in Hovland and Thomas. This one, though, felt different. First of all, we had two guests instead of one. Second, they’re identical twins. And third, it feels like we’re getting in on the ground floor when it comes to the brothers Hojgaard, Rasmus and Nicolai, who showed off their shot-shaping abilities amidst an endless stream of brotherly trash talk. Get to know these bros below:

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

Good news for fans of Fred Couples, who is arguably on the Mt. Rushmore of Seattle athletes (which, wow, seems like a topic I should tackle with the help of some locals). Couples played this week’s Hoag Classic and also gave an interview to Golfweek, where he addressed his future at Augusta National.

Couples, who missed the cut after rounds of 80-76 last year, said he’d spoken with Chief Tournament Officer Steve Ethun to make sure he wasn’t overstaying his welcome.

“I told Steve two things; First, that I don’t want to embarrass myself. And that I’m certainly not going to embarrass Augusta National,” Couples told Golfweek.

“Steve goes, ‘We already know that. We want you to keep playing.’

“I can’t tell you how much my blood pressure went down.”

Couples was overjoyed to get the news. We are, too — especially after he showed some form en route to grabbing the 36-hole lead in California. See you in Augusta, Freddie.

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Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.