LOS ANGELES – Don’t name the trees after Viktor Hovland just yet.
Hovland, who for a few years now has played Riviera’s par-4 15th hole down the adjacent 17th fairway to its right, originally seemed annoyed by the two sycamores planted in the gap that Hovland has grown accustomed to threading.
“Smh,” Hovland posted, along with a photo of the trees, to Instagram on Wednesday.
Viktor Hovland makes note of new trees off the 15th tee at Riviera that he may have inspired pic.twitter.com/mqghhIOS2I
— Underdog Golf (@UnderdogGolf) February 18, 2026
But a day later, after a 2-under 69 at the Genesis Invitational – an opening round that included a regular drive and subsequent bogey on No. 15 – Hovland hadn’t totally lost hope.
“I said to Shay [Knight, his caddie], I mean, with where the tees were we actually could have taken it down the right, but he didn’t have any numbers down the right side, and that pin location (front right) maybe wasn’t all that great, and still would have had to, even though I drove it good today, I think I would have liked to have a bit more confidence to be able to hit it through that gap. But definitely, you could have done it today.”
That confidence Hovland speaks of is starting to build. He’s been seemingly neck deep in driver experimentation in recent weeks, switching between different models and lengths. He’s settled now on a Ping 440K with a slightly shorter shaft that normal. While he entered the week No. 155 in strokes gained off the tee, Hovland ranked No. 32 in that stat on Thursday while missing only two fairways in cold, rainy and windy conditions. He also led the field tee to green.
When the horn sounded for darkness, Hovland was four shots back of leader Aaron Rai, who was on the 17th hole.
“Today was really good,” Hovland said. “You know, not only do the numbers show it, but like the feel of what it’s supposed to feel like when I’m playing well, that was a lot closer.”
Prior to the round, Hovland traded his pool floaties for his latest training aid, a resistance band, though the purpose was still the same: To get more space between his arms and his body on the downswing.
“That’s what the floaties were for, trying to get some space in the downswing,” Hovland said. “It was just hard to feel that when I took the floaties away. But the band really, because it forces your body to push against the tension, and then when you take it away, it’s like wow, that’s what it’s supposed to feel like. We’re not quite all there yet even though this is a great round of golf, but that was a huge step in the right direction.”