Free Vik

Viktor Hovland’s day started out on a hopeful note, sartorially speaking. He wore dark blue pants, a light-blue hoodie, a white hat, and shoes that combined all three of those hues. Blueberries and cream. He looked nice. Not at all like a creamsicle or a botanical garden or a member of an F1 pit crew. Perhaps, some wondered, Hovland’s apparel sponsor J.Lindeberg had finally provided a suitable major-championship wardrobe for a guy who says he prefers to wear “a lot of gray, black, and that’s about it.”

But The Fried Egg’s own Meg Adkins was the first to catch an ominous glimpse of what Hovland had on under his hoodie. On the 15th hole, his sixth, he revealed his shirt in full. It turns out that, once again, J.Lindeberg did our boy dirty.

The problem this time wasn’t the color. It was the fact that, from a distance, the shirt’s pattern resembled a pile of larvae as seen through a microscope or, more generously, the hide of a zebra dipped in electric-blue food coloring.

After a bumpy front nine, Hovland recovered to post a first-round 69, thanks in part to a hole-out for eagle on No. 2. He’s eight shots back and not a million miles away from contention. Imagine what he could do with proper clothing.

Anyway, the shirt’s $95.