With the start of the Hero World Challenge, on Thursday (December 01), at Albany Golf course in the Bahamas, 20 players who are ranked among top-35 will be seen participating. Meanwhile, 15-time Major champion Tiger Woods withdrew his name from the competition citing a foot injury. Since the fight for the title and even world rankings are on offer, this tournament promise to deliver the hype. In an exclusive chat with WION’s Sports Editor, Digvijay Singh Deo, the defending champion Norway’s Viktor Hovland talked about the rise of youngsters on the PGA scene, how has 2022 been for him, what keeps him hooked to this game and beyond.
I improved a lot this year – Viktor
Viktor Hovland won the Hero World Challenge the last time and also claimed his second DP World Tour title in Dubai this year over Richie Bland and Rory McIlroy. Such wins not only put him in the right spotlight but also in contention to be among the best around. During the interview, when asked how 2022 fared for him, the Norwegian said, “It (2022) has been interesting, started off with a win in Dubai (DP World Tour Title), which was an awesome win. I also won here 12 months ago, something that was interesting too. Now since then, I have started to put myself in contention a lot, there are a lot of good memories from this year. I have also improved a lot this year.”
The current world number 12 was further asked about his thoughts on what Tiger Woods recently said on the rise of youngsters on the PGA scene. Seemingly impressed, Viktor said, “With every young guy that’s winning and doing well that’s proving to the guy younger than him that this is possible, now that’s like everyone is just pushing each other. There’s so much information out there from which you can learn, and with that, you can grow at an exceptional rate in comparison to before, and that’s why you see a lot of young guys out there.”
Tough year for the sport, but I plan to get better – Viktor
Viktor Hovland was open to talking about the year 2022, where the sport had some ups and downs. He was of the opinion that despite a tough year overall, there are still a lot of things that hook him up with golf. He said, “I just want to see how good I can become, my goals are always to get better at golf and that’s what drives me. Obviously, money and other things are nice, but I want to see how good I can become.”
Besides playing golf and rubbing shoulders have some of this sport’s greatest ever, Viktor is also believed to be following what stars from his country are up to. Although he was honest in accepting that it’s hard not to see what others are doing, with his busy schedule he cannot keep a tab of everything.
“We follow the region media and try and follow up upon what’s happening with other stars from the country, it’s hard not to see what others including Erling are doing. I don’t get to go back much or meet them but I am still supporting them on the sidelines. It’s cool for a winter nation to do well in summer sports,” he concluded.
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