THE SAUDI INTERNATIONAL POWERED BY SOFTBANK INVESTMENT ADVISERS

February 5, 2021

Viktor Hovland

Royal Greens Golf and Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. 66, talk us through that one.

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, had a very nice start birdieing the first hole, the 10th hole on the course, and made another one on No. 12 and missed a short one on 13. So I was Hitting some good shot close. Just making kind of easy birdies and pars and then the wind kind of picked up a little bit and started raining off and on.

So the golf course played a lot longer and it wasn't necessarily as easy to get close to the pin. A lot of times I hit it up to 20 feet, 15 feet, 25 feet and you're just kind of two-putting the whole way. Made a couple nice saves and just played very solid.

Q. You're trying to become the first Norwegian player to make The Ryder Cup Team and you're playing along a Ryder Cup legend in Ian Poulter. How much have you enjoyed that?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it's been fun. Obviously Danny, as well. We had good banter in the group. It was a lot of fun to trade some birdies out there with them and just kind of have a very relaxed atmosphere.

Q. How aggressively will you be talking on the course over the weekend?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I mean, I would say my game plan, anyways, is very aggressive. So I don't see a reason not to do it this week, especially there are some bunkers where you can fire it over them or short par 4s where you can't hit irons off the tee and leave yourself a fuller shot. Kind of depends.

I like to hit driver if it's not if the fairway and it's still an easy shot to hit the green. Just kind of depends with the pin placements and the conditions, but I like to hit the driver.