Hovland Has Driver Snapped As Clubs Arrive Late In Hawaii
The Norwegian arrived in Hawaii early for the Tournament of Champions but didn't have his clubs for six days
Viktor Hovland enters this week's Sentry Tournament of Champions at a career-high 7th in the world after winning three times in 2021 including his last two starts at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and Hero World Challenge. The Norwegian arrived to Hawaii last Wednesday, eight days before the start of the tournament, but did not receive his clubs until six days later! It resulted in him only getting to play the course on the final practice day.
His bag went missing for five days after travelling from Oslo via Paris via Seattle to get to Hawaii for this week's event. And when his clubs did finally arrive, his driver shaft was snapped on his Ping G425 - which was a replacement. Hovland won the Mayakoba Golf Classic using James Hahn's back-up driver after Danny Lee broke his when testing it on the range, so at least he is used to using back-ups.
The World No.7 wrote on Instagram calling Delta Airlines to sort their 's#!T' together and then wrote "Can't say I'm surprised!!!" when he discovered his broken driver.
He spent his time in Hawaii going to the gym and beach, and managed to play some golf with his caddie Shay Knight's clubs.
"It wasn't ideal, but at least when you haven't hit balls, the main thing is to just kind of get a feel for it," Hovland said. "Obviously, the preparations haven't been ideal. My duffel bag and my mom's duffel bag was there, but we waited 30 minutes for my golf bag and it didn't show up. They said they sent it through Salt Lake City, apparently."
"It's a little different case because I was playing pretty good and then testing James' driver, it was really good. I'm still playing that driver. It's a little different this week, but I'm getting better every day. But it's not ideal that I have to spend these couple of days to try to get back into things and find my swing."
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Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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