SLYNC.IO DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

January 28, 2022

Viktor Hovland

Emirates Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. 68 and 69 to begin; how would you grade yourself so far?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Felt like I played a lot better yesterday. Was more solid tee-to-green.

Today I kind of sprayed a lot of tee shots and hit some bad iron shots, but I played really well on my front nine, the back nine. So I kind of had a little cushion going into the front nine here. Managed to make a couple birdies, but just a few too many mistakes today to be able to shoot a real good score.

Q. When you look across the history of this event and the people that have won it, big names in the world of golf have done it. What is it about this golf course that you have to do particularly well to be successful?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it's in great shape right now. The greens are firm and fast and the rough is thick. The fairways are really narrow. So you just have to put the ball in play off the tee. You can miss it off the tee; you're going to find your ball, but if you're in the wrong spot you're just playing for par and that could be a really long day. You have to put the ball in play and you have to do everything well out here.

Q. You're the 10th player to make it inside the top five in the World Rankings before the age of 25. With so many great players to get past, there are obvious parallels people like to make between yourself and Collin. Do you pull each other along or do you not pay too much attention?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I try to do my own thing and focus on what I need to do, but obviously you can't not notice that he's already won two majors and WGC and multiple titles. So it's pretty impressive to see what he's done, and I think it's cool, too, that we've played a bunch of times together. Sometimes I beat him and he beats me, too. It's cool that I can try to follow along.