SLYNC.IO DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

January 30, 2022

Viktor Hovland

Emirates Golf Club

Press Conference

BRIONY CARLYON: Delighted to be joined by our champion of the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic, Viktor Hovland.

Q. Is that the best finish of your life?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Under the circumstances, yes, for sure.

Q. Can you expand?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I do distinctly remember a little match that I had in college. We used to do a little Ryder Cup -- me and Christopher Ventura against Zach bow Chu and Sam Stevens. It's just we were basically playing for dinner and it was kind of getting dark like this and it was pretty feisty. We all didn't want to lose and I remember we were doing stroke play best-ball, I think, and they were down I think three strokes with three to go, and I finished birdie, birdie, and then eagle on the last to beat them by a shot and they were so mad, and it just brought me so much joy. So I do remember that one.

Q. This is a bit more lucrative, though.

VIKTOR HOVLAND: It is. But the other one was pretty satisfying, too.

Q. Six wins now. Up to world No. 3. How does it feel, in less than would years?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it's pretty wild. I was asked, was it earlier this week, I was up to 5th and I was getting questions about how that felt. More of the same, I guess being No. 3 is pretty crazy, but you know, that stuff can vary week-to-week and I'm not going to let that stuff dictate my mood or how I do things.

But it is very rewarding to see all the hard work paying off.

Q. I'm not going to ask for the pen back. You can keep it. It's really working for you.

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I still have it. Thanks for the good luck charm.

Q. Six shots back in Bahamas, six shots back here, and you still managed to do it. What is this mentality that of Viktor Hovland that does it again and again?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I wouldn't say it's become a habit just yet. Obviously you have to get things going your way and I would certainly say that I had things going my way in Bahamas last time, and obviously this time, finishing birdie, eagle, birdie, that's something that rarely happens. And even then, some other guys had a chance to take me out of it. So you know, I just try to do the best I can. I knew that I could post a good score today. I played some good golf this week. But I didn't quite get the same momentum that I did today, so you know, I posted a good number; make it interesting for the guys behind me.

Q. You are a Slync.io ambassador yourself. How special does that feel, winning a tournament of this stature, hosting it for the first time, and you managed to win it in front of your sponsors?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, that's really cool. Gotten to know Chris Kirschner over the past couple years, and he is really investing in the game of golf and he is excited about being part of the game and it's been a really good partnership so far. Yeah, it was just really cool to see him at the podium and see all this kind of come to fruition.

Q. The first Norwegian to win a Rolex Series Event, which is a nice feeling, and sorry to ask you this again; The Scottish Open, have you thought about that? The Bahamas, you weren't sure. Have you made a decision about The Scottish Open yet?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I still haven't yet. The thing is, I really enjoyed being back home in Norway in the summer, and that's kind of around the time that's the most easy for me to do it. So I'm not sure. I'm still kind of working things out but I'd love to be there and play.

Q. Could you describe a little bit this last day, how the round went, like emotionally, mindset, and a few things if you can share with us.

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it was a little up-and-down I would say. I got off to a good start, birdieing No. 1. That's a hard hole. And that kind of made me relax a little bit because yesterday I got off to a really poor start, and I played well coming in but it's so tough when you get off to a bad start over here because there's not many birdies out here where you can get back into it. So for me to get off to being 2-under through three and then a little tough bogey on 4, but then bounced back with a birdie at 5 again, so I was 3-under through nine and I felt pretty good.

But then at the same time, I didn't birdie 10. I didn't birdie 13, and then three-putting 15, so then all kind of momentum went away, but then I make a bomb on 16 and I start thinking, well, birdie, birdie, 17, 18, it's a good finish, lots of good things to take with me to the next couple of events, and then hit a great drive and then suddenly I see it's on the green, and it wasn't an easy put. I might make that putt one in 20 times, especially it was going both ways and it's so sandy. It kind of hard to get the speed right. When that went in, I knew I had a legit chance on the last hole if I could set myself up for a birdie.