Highlights

Viktor Hovland is on such a heater that even his "disgusting" shots are leading to birdies

January 06, 2022

Viktor Hovland's tardy club arrival and broken driver (Thanks, Delta!) drew headlines early in the week, but when the PGA Tour's first event of 2022 began on Thursday, there were at least three reasons to expect the 24-year-old Norwegian to play well at Kapalua:

1. He's already proved he can win with a replacement driver.

2. He's the undisputed RESORT GOLF KING and this tournament is taking place at Kapalua RESORT.

3. He's on an absolute heater.

This third point is probably the most important to keep in mind. Hovland won his final two starts of 2021 to climb to No. 7 in the Official World Ranking so the guy is absolutely cooking right now. And that stayed the same in the early portion of his third round as he birdied three of his first five holes.

But we really got to see what a roll he's on when he did an unitentional heat check with his approach shot on No. 6. As you can hear in the following clip, Hovland wasn't happy with it. In fact, he called it "DISGUSTING." And yet, it bounced off a bank and rolled tight to set up yet another birdie. Check it out:

It's very (very) early, but Hovland has found his way to the top of another leader board. Regardless of what driver he's playing, this dude is going to be tough to beat.