Ryder Cup 2025: What cameras caught Viktor Hovland telling his teammates that should really worry Americans
It's hard to imagine a world in which Scottie Scheffler isn't the best golfer on the planet, but you could certainly make that case two years ago. Viktor Hovland beat Scheffler at that year's BMW Championship by shooting a back-nine 28, won the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup the following week and then led Europe to a win in the Ryder Cup. Then, as quickly as the Norwegian heated up, he cooled down.
Hovland still had good seasons in 2024 and 2025, including a win—that surprised himself—at the Valspar Championship in March. But he hasn't quite been at that level golf fans saw at the end of 2023. Until possibly Wednesday at Bethpage Black. On the practice range.
Hovland has turned heads there this week using a variety of training aids including the George Gankas G Box, which he uses to keep his hands from getting too far behind him. (And our Luke Kerr-Dineen did a full breakdown of the stuff Hovland has been working on ahead of Friday's start.) But he really got his teammates' attention in the moments before the opening ceremony started. And what he said should worry Team USA.
In a now-deleted video post (Curious!) by Team Europe, an excited Hovland, wearing a suit, is talking to Shane Lowry and Robert MacIntyre. And here's what the cameras caught him saying.
"It was good on the range," Hovland says. "I haven't had a range session like that in two years."
Again, two years takes us back to that incredible hot streak by Hovland. One that also included Viktor and Ludvig Aberg handing Scheffler and Brooks Koepka a 9-and-7 drubbing in foursomes—the most-lopsided match in Ryder Cup history.
"F---ing yes!" Lowry says in response. He gets it.
Again, as you can see above, the video was taken down for some reason, but Team Europe posted this photo of the three instead:
Here's a caption: Viktor Hovland is BACK(?)!
Maybe the Euros don't want to reveal this to the U.S. yet, but you'd think they'd want this out there to get in their opponents' heads. In any event, if Hovland is truly back to peak form, his American opponents are going to be muttering the opposite of what Lowry said come Friday.
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