Viktor Hovland will be at Innisbrook Resort this week to defend the Valspar Championship title he won last year.
That victory in Tampa is still his only win since the 2023 Tour Championship.
The 28-year-old Norwegian has really struggled with his swing over the past two years, and even when he won at the Copperhead Course last year he had to rely heavily on his putting.
Hovland has actually recorded some really positive results on the PGA Tour so far this year with one top-10 to his name and back-to-back T-13 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship over the past two weeks.
Hovland has drastically improved his putting in 2026, after working very hard on that part of his game throughout the off-season, and he has climbed around 40 places in the strokes gained on the greens rankings.
Earlier this month, Hovland split with his swing coach, Grant Waite, after struggling desperately with his driver recently.
He is constantly tinkering with his swing and equipment and purists would suggest that this is, in fact, why he has endured a tough two years on the golf course.
Viktor Hovland admits to the ‘tremendous’ problem he has right now
Hovland addressed the media in Tampa on Tuesday morning ahead of the start of the Valspar Championship on Thursday.
The seven-time PGA Tour winner was asked by reporters how he feels about the state of his game at the moment.
“Yeah, it’s nice to see at least some results trending in the right direction,“ Hovland admitted.
“However, I’ve been still struggling off the tee tremendously. I feel like I’m doing a great job overcoming some of those deficiencies.
“I had a nice practice day yesterday, although it was cut short by the storms that came in.
“I do feel like it’s been a real struggle out there on the golf course, but I’ve done a really good job scoring.
“So I feel like my scoring game is in a good spot, I just need to find some shots off the tee, even into the greens, like particularly with my longer clubs.
“If I can find a certain feel there and have a sense of predictability, I think we’ll be in a very good spot.“
Viktor Hovland shares why he changes coaches
Hovland was asked by one journalist on Tuesday why he decided to part ways with Grant Waite and return to his former coach, T.J. Yeaton.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like I have a theory behind it, but the game of golf is constantly evolving and there’s new challenges that arise all the time,“ the man from Norway said.
“I feel like I’m obviously a very curious person and there’s a lot of smart people out there. If I feel like there’s something missing or — and I obviously haven’t been very happy with the state of my game the last few years — I’m constantly searching to try to hear other perspectives that might resonate with me a little bit more.
“It’s not to say that — like I feel like every single person that I work with I’ve gotten good information, and I don’t seek out dumb people, I find the smartest people that I deem are out there, and I really listen to ’em and I’ve learned from a lot of ’em.
“But I obviously got to filter that information and make that applicable to myself.
“And there’s some information, some bits and pieces kind of resonate with me more than others, and then I kind of, that’s how I go about it and try to filter out the information the best that I can.“