Like many other players, fans, and reporters alike, Viktor Hovland believes the state of professional golf is in flux.
He feels LIV Golf is not for him, yet understands why Jon Rahm bolted to the Saudi-backed tour. Hovland, meanwhile, has committed to six PGA Tour events throughout 2024.
But the 26-year-old Norwegian has issues with the tour he plays on.
“It would be a bit silly to criticize the players for leaving,” Hovland said on the Norwegian Fore! Podcast.
“After all, you only hear one angle in the media, and there are quite a few different parts happening at the same time here. I totally understand why [Rahm] left. That’s a lot, a lot of money. And at least when the management of the PGA Tour has done such a bad job.”
Hovland is not the first player to criticize PGA Tour brass over the past year. Tiger Woods detailed his ‘frustration’ with the tour in the wake of the Jun. 6, 2023, framework agreement—which dismissed all lawsuits between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and put the two sides on a path to strike an agreement by the end of the year.
Plus, 21 PGA Tour players recently hired attorneys, hoping to seek more answers and transparency as these negotiations continue.
“Just to be clear: I’m not complaining about the position I’m in, and I’m very grateful for everything,” Hovland added.
“But the management has not done a good job. They almost see the players as labor, and not as part of the members. After all, we are the PGA Tour. Without the players, there is nothing.”
After Rahm’s departure to LIV Golf, Hovland’s name surfaced as another player likely to bolt. But he has committed to playing at The Sentry—the first event of the 2024 PGA Tour season—in Maui. Then, in February, Hovland will tee it up at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
The Sentry, Pebble Beach, and Riviera constitute three of the eight Signature Events in 2024, featuring improved amenities and hospitality for players and families. They also are no-cut events with smaller fields—like LIV Golf—and will award $4 million to the winner. Each Signature Event has a $20 million purse.
“You need the competition with 150 players and a cut,” Hovland said.
“If you don’t play well enough, you’re out. There is something about it that makes your game a little sharper. If I had gone to LIV, I don’t think I would have become a better golfer.”
Hovland, the reigning FedEx Cup champion, is currently the fourth-ranked player in the world. He helped lead Team Europe to a resounding Ryder Cup victory this past September and now has his eyes set on claiming a major championship in 2024.
But he also hopes the PGA Tour changes its ways in 2024, perhaps invoking more transparency in its decision-making processes.
“When you get to see what happens behind closed doors, how the management actually makes decisions, which are not in the players’ best interest, but best for themselves and what they think is best,” Hovland said.
“They are businessmen who say that, ‘No, it should look like this and that.’ There is a great deal of arrogance behind it all.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
