In the week before the Players Championship, Jay Monahan and Rory McIlroy spoke up to the future of the PGA Tour. More fan engagement, ongoing chats with the PIF and the new alliance with the SSG were in discussion. For Viktor Hovland all these topics are important, but the Norwegian doesn’t keep up with all the new twists and turns happening on the PGA Tour right now.
Viktor Hovland on Jay Monahan: “I want a person to take ownership of their mistakes”
“The thing is, like, I play golf for a living. I don’t know exactly what should have been done because at the end of the day I don’t have all the information”, Hovland said when being asked about Jay Monahans and Rory Mclroys latest statement regarding the PGA Tour’s future.
“As a leader of an organization, I will want a person like that to take some ownership and say, hey, we made a couple of mistakes, but this is how we’re going to rectify it, instead of kind of sweeping it under the rug, which I felt like has been done to a certain degree”, he goes on.
With the talk shifting to the possible futures of the PGA Tour and the new PGA Tour Enterprises Hovland doesn’t give mich tought into these developments. “These Signature Events, for example, they have been great for the players that are in the tournaments. I don’t know if that’s necessarily what the fans want to watch.”
On the contrary Hovland agrees to a comment from tour colleague Lucas Glover. “I’ve read Lucas Glover’s comments last week where he said having the smaller field sizes are not making it more competitive. Yes, you’re getting the best players to play, the top guys to show up, but the fields are more competitive when you have bigger field sizes. I think that’s just the fact. There’s a reason why we’re playing THE PLAYERS Championship with 144 guys.”
Hovland agrees with McIlroy in one point. “I don’t think it’s a great outlook if we keep being divided (with LIV Golf) for 10, 15 years, whatever, however long it’s going to take. There has to be some kind of decision being made in the future.” Hovland leaves open what this future might look like.
Should Hovland be more invested in this topic?
The overall impression of Viktor Hovland in terms of the PGA Tour’s development is a leaned back attitude. “Probably there’s definitely a responsibility on my side. I could have definitely gone out of my way to put more time and effort into figuring out what kind of trajectory we’re on and put myself into that debate a bit more.” But with Players like Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods and other well known names in the Players Advisory Counsil Hovland doesn’t feel the need to stay up to date at all times. “Although, I do trust the players on the PAC to represent the players in the best way possible and I have been in communication with some of those guys to fill me in. But at the same time, I’m just not that interested in spending my free time in trying to figure out every single nuance in the situation. So, I’m trying to stay outside a little bit and play my game, because, yeah, I trust the guys on the board to kind of do their thing.”