Hole One
Since turning professional in 2019, Hovland has only had one stretch of his career where he wasn’t poor around the greens – between May 2023 and December 2023. After that stretch, Hovland’s around-the-green play took a nosedive. He finished 180th out of 184 qualified golfers in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green in 2024, losing more than half a stroke per round to the field.
Outside of a third-place finish on a soft Valhalla setup, Hovland missed the cut in each of the other three majors last year. Viktor is a brilliant ballstriker and an above-average putter. Still, you cannot be one of the best players in the world with such a glaring weakness in the bag. Perhaps he will land on his feet and find answers after another recent breakup with coach Joe Mayo, but until further notice, Hovland is Just a Guy.
Hole Two
Like many of the great links golf courses, Royal County Down’s history ties back to the railroad. The genesis of the club came from the train stop in Newcastle. This train station would become where Royal County Down rounds started and ended during the club’s early days. The course made a long list of changes throughout its first 40 years. Originally laid out by its membership, the club then brought Old Tom Morris in to create a new 18 holes.
In the early 1900s, the membership (George Coombe in particular) took matters into his own hands, updating the golf course. Finally, Royal County Down enlisted Harry Colt to make final revisions to the course, creating the vast majority of the 18 holes that are on site now. A few of Colt’s major revisions include adding Nos. 4 and 5, as well as turning two of the existing holes into No. 9, now one of the most photographed and celebrated holes in all of golf. On top of the addition of these holes, Colt’s work also removed some of RCD’s propensity for blind shots. While players will still face them, Colt’s work made many shots at RCD more visible. This amalgamation of different work through the years has given us one of the most sublime golf experiences in the world.
