Why Viktor Hovland Is Looking At Course Strategy In A Completely Different Way To Most Others At The Genesis Invitational

Plenty of golf coaches will tell you that if you're struggling on a particular hole, one way to navigate the issue is to try and play it in a different way. Take a 3-wood off the tee instead of driver or perhaps lay up as opposed to taking your chances with a long iron.

In Viktor Hovland's case, as well as a handful of other players at this week's Genesis Invitational, it seems the Norwegian will be trying a very similar method as he attempts to navigate past the tricky 15th hole at Riviera Country Club.

Playing just short of 500 yards as a dogleg par-4 with a green that slopes towards the next tee box, 15 often plays as the second hardest hole on the property. 

Most players will try and thrash their ball down the left side of 15, but that leaves a very tough approach shot in. And historically, less than 50% of competitors have found the green in regulation going that way.

As a result, Hovland began raising eyebrows in 2022 when he opted to stand on the 15th tee with driver in hand and aim through a gap in the trees towards the adjacent 17th fairway on his right. After waiting for the intended target area to clear, he smashed his ball around 300 yards and left a shot of circa 180 yards to the green.

Repeating the tactic on and off ever since, the reigning FedEx Cup champion saw varying degrees of success last year. The first round generated a par after he found the green with his second shot while the Friday attempt resulted in a bogey as the approach shot was some 30 yards short.

At the weekend, Hovland returned to lining his drive up down the designated fairway, but once again he carded a five and a four - although the former was mainly down to a three-putt.

Ahead of the 2024 running of the Genesis Invitational, Hovland was pictured practicing the alternative route once again. The PGA Tour tried to stop players following suit 12 months ago by popping a digital scoreboard in the gap, but it was not tall enough to affect the desired shot shape and was therefore largely redundant.

The reason one of Europe's hottest prospects is among those approaching the 487-yard 15th in such a unique way is two-fold. One, because it takes the extremely penal bunker that sits around 300 yards down the right-hand side of the fairway out of play. And two, because there is currently no internal out of bounds between 15 and 17, so players can avoid the almost certain bogey which finding the sand results in.

Speaking about the sneaky plan in 2022, Hovland said: "Just fits my eye" before crediting former teammate at Oklahoma State, Zach Bouchou, with the idea.

Hovland continued: “There’s not too much trouble there, I thought. Obviously that bunker on the left side [on 17] is no good, but at the same time the bunker down 15 on the right is no good, either.”

Many have suggested enforcing a local rule which would prohibit that direction of travel, but for the time being, Hovland and co. are perfectly entitled to look at the world via a different perspective - and all power to them.