Why Viktor Hovland Thinks Scottie Scheffler Is 'Very Beatable'

With the 3M Open and LIV Golf UK headlining, it was hardly a flagship weekend for men’s professional golf. So instead of taking either of those golf tournaments too seriously, here are three pro golf-related thoughts and observations that have been rattling around my head as we near the end of the 2025 pro golf season.

1. Player moods signal the states of their golf game

This year has featured a higher-than-usual number of outbursts and temper flares from top golfers in the world, or at least so it seems. Collin Morikawa has, at times, been testy with the media. Rory McIlroy similarly expressed frustration with the media between the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. Wyndham Clark took out a locker at Oakmont (sources say he hit the top right corner). Shane Lowry cursed out every golf course under the sun.

When a player slams a club or destroys a locker, that is a reflection of poor play, not necessarily a signal of future poor play. Within a similar vein, I’ve come to appreciate that when players display angst and frustration, often from behind a microphone, it is generally a sign of deeper-seated issues they’re working through. I suspect Morikawa’s patience wouldn’t wear thin as quickly if he felt better about the state of his ball-striking or if he’d won since 2023.

This is neither a counterintuitive nor groundbreaking thought, but it’s one that seems clearer after this season. Is Morikawa irritated with the media, or is he more susceptible to irritation because he’s a perfectionist who has been to the top of the mountain and knows he isn’t there right now? I’m sure it’s both. But if he’d won a couple times to start 2025, I doubt he’d ever have become snippy with media. The question was about a caddie change, after all.

2. Joaquin Niemann’s wins aren’t deluding him

It is remarkable that Joaquin Niemann has five wins on LIV this season, yet he just parted ways with his swing coach and caddie prior to his latest win this past weekend. How many pro golfers have experienced major shakeups to their teams amidst five-win seasons?

Since the beginning of 2024, 21 golfers have at least two top-10 finishes in major championships. Eighteen of them are on the PGA Tour, three are on LIV (Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Tyrrell Hatton).

Joaco surely realizes that despite a prolific season on LIV, his form isn’t where it needs to be to consistently compete with the best players in the world, as evidenced by his irrelevance in major championships this year (T29-T8-MC-MC). Rahm alluded to the same point when he downplayed the significance of his LIV top-10 streak during his U.S. Open presser.

A handful of charming anonymous Twitter accounts may argue that LIV’s fields are as strong and deep as any tour’s, but reality doesn’t seem to evade the players themselves. Or at least some of them.

3. Viktor Hovland knows he can beat Scottie Scheffler

I asked Viktor Hovland about Scottie Scheffler last week at the Open, and his response caught me off guard. He described Scheffler as “very beatable” and noted that in the second half of 2023 when he was playing the best golf of his career, he beat Scottie all the time.

Hovland also said that nobody is pushing Scottie right now. Per Hovland, Scottie can just hit fairways and greens without doing anything special because nobody is pushing him, including Viktor himself, who is currently working through his own swing issues.

I was surprised to hear Hovland describe Scottie as “beatable,” only because it’s a stark difference from how others described the world No. 1 that weekend. Other players refer to Scottie as the gold standard or the most consistent player since Tiger. Hovland? “Beatable.”

To be clear, his comments didn’t come off as demeaning or arrogant; he just sounded like a fiercely competitive athlete eager to give Scottie a run for his money once he regains his form.