Hovland’s ridiculous heavy metal and Red Bull-fuelled PGA Tour road trip
Viktor Hovland decided against the PGA Tour’s chartered plane. Instead, he got in his Lexus and didn’t look back
The pitch would be one sentence: Viktor Hovland driving through the night, high on caffeine, singing along to Iron Maiden and revealing his innermost thoughts. Tell me you wouldn’t watch that. It would be Marion & Geoff meets Dumb & Dumber.
The Norwegian has decided to drive to each PGA Tour since top-level golf has returned following the Covid-forced suspension.
Viktor Hovland’s Excellent Adventure began and will end in his home of Stillwater, Oklahoma.
It started with a relatively short four-hour drive to Colonial for the Charles Schwab Challenge. Then, like Forrest Gump, he decided to just keep on going.
Next up was the 16-hour, 1,105-mile trek to Harbour Town for the RBC Heritage, then 912 miles and 14 hours to TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship, and most recently the 672-mile, 10-hours schlep to Detroit Golf Club for the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
After that he will take the 198-mile, three-hour journey to Muirfield Village for both the Workday Charity Open and Memorial, before the 882-mile, 14-hour drive home.
Put your calculator away, it’s 4,032 miles and 61 hours in total. That’s two-and-a-half days behind the wheel.
It begs the question: Why?
“I just kept on thinking, ‘Well, what if I just take my car to all these tournaments?'” Hovland explained. “I looked up, it’s 16 hours to Hilton Head, it’s 13 hours to Connecticut and yadda yadda. I just said, ‘OK, I’m not going to think about it, just going to do it.’ Been having a lot of fun so far.”
Hovland kept himself awake thanks to heavy metal music and a lot of Red Bull. He drank six cans in one night on that Colonial to Harbour Town leg.
But it’s all been worth it. The 22-year-old is a combined 49-under-par in total since the PGA Tour’s restart – second only to Bryson DeChambeau.
Hovland, who won his first PGA Tour title at the Puerto Rico Open in February, has finished T23, T21, T11 and T12 since golf’s return to become the first Norwegian to break into the top 50 in men’s world rankings.
His next appearance after Muirfield will be the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational, a mere 785 miles from his home. But if he plans to drive to that and then the PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco, he faces a further 2,119 miles and 31 hours in the car.
Party on, dudes.
- Related: What’s in Hovland’s bag?
- Related: Why does Hovland do the double-pump swing?
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Alex Perry
Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.
