‘What is wrong with Viktor?’ Why Ryder Cup teammates needled Hovland

The first session of the Ryder Cup is still a day away, which has made this week seem like an eternity. This also means social media teams have time to kill, and to brainstorm, and that’s what happened here with the European Ryder Cup squad.

Viktor Hovland should be one of Europe’s key players this week, and it’s also well-known he has a peculiar taste in music. His favorite genre? Heavy metal. Like, really heavy.

Earlier this week the European Ryder Cup social media team asked a handful of Hovland’s teammates to listen to Hovland’s favorite song and give their feedback. The answers were pretty hilarious.

“What is wrong with Viktor?” Jon Rahm asked.

“It sounds like the devil,” Rory McIlroy said. “That’s like the most horrific thing I have ever heard in my life. The music and beat is OK, but when the guy starts singing, it’s horrendous.”

“I think you played that for like 15 seconds too long there,” Tyrrell Hatton deadpanned.

As for Hovland’s take on the song, which the comments section (and YouTube later confirmed) is called “Linger” and by the band Humanity’s Last Breath, he says: “It’s just super-chaotic, but the more you listen to it you find the rhythm and beats and it kind of comes together and makes sense.”

Hovland’s Ryder Cup teammates got just a taste of what some of Hovland’s roommates had to deal with he was at Oklahoma State. Pro Austin Eckroat joined GOLF’s Subpar Podcast earlier this year and talked about rooming with Hovland.

“Most of the time, [Hovland] was wearing headphones,” Eckroat said. “But sometimes he’d walk in, he’s cooking something, and it was just the worst music you’ve ever heard in your entire life, just on full blast.”

The Ryder Cup begins at 1:30 a.m. ET on Friday in USA. Here’s the complete schedule for the week.