Viktor Hovland has stated in the pre-Arnold Palmer Invitational press conference that LIV Golf not getting rankings points only devalues the Official World Golf Rankings. Just earlier this week, the Saudi-backed league backed off its fight to bid for a chance to receive points for its players. Since then, the golfing fraternity has seen mixed reactions from fans and PGA Tour pros, and the Norwegian is the newest to add a remark.
Ten Golf shared Hovland’s 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational press conference video on YouTube. He was asked about the effect of LIV Golfers not receiving points for playing on their respective tour. The reigning FedEx Cup champion replied,
“Rankings are rankings, they’re not objective truth. They’re created to try to rank people the best they can. Obviously, now when you have a huge chunk of really, really good players who are not getting any ranking points, it definitely devalues that ranking.”
Hovland continued, “So, at the end of the day, I don’t show up out here to try to improve my World Ranking, I show up because I want to win this tournament and that’s it”
Viktor Hovland Opens Up On His Struggle With Form In 2024 Season
The 26-year-old has been facing some issues in the 2024 PGA Tour season. He has recorded just one top-20 in the three starts so far, which certainly is not a great number for a player of his caliber. In the pre-tournament press conference, Hovland was asked about his backswing issues. He addressed the question by saying,
“It’s just the mechanics of the swing. Just haven’t been able to hit the shots that I want to. Obviously, you want to have good results, but when you’re seeing a shot and your swing is not producing those shots, it becomes very tough to compete, especially at this level.”
Viktor Hovland added that the results are not at all in his favor but that does not mean he is low on confidence. He continued by saying,
“The results are not the best, but they reflect what you’re doing when things aren’t great. So it’s, not confident with my game, and then you’re just trying to make the most out of it. You’re playing defensive golf instead of aggressive or confident. That’s basically what I just got to get back to.”
Hovland is certainly not in really great form this season. Last season, he went on to win three tournaments which eventually got him crowned as the FedEx Cup winner. He will certainly hope to change this at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
