Viktor Hovland in Masters meltdown as star throws ball into water in anger and misses cut

Viktor Hovland’s Masters dream was shattered as he missed the cut after a disastrous meltdown on the 15th at Augusta National, which saw him angrily hurl his ball into the water. The Norwegian golfer had worked his way into a promising position on the green and was set for par to remain at 6-over. However, his putt up the slope heartbreakingly lipped out, leaving him with a small tap-in for bogey.

In a casual approach, Hovland hit the ball one-handed, only to see it slip past the hole and roll back downhill. The 26 year old then composed himself, approached the putt again, this time using both hands, and sunk it for a double bogey.
In a fit of frustration, Hovland threw his ball into the lake before the 15th green.

This moved Hovland from 6-over to 8-over, pushing him past the cut line. A score of six-over par would have seen him through, but after parring the remaining three holes, he will now be heading home instead of playing on Saturday at Augusta.
Hovland had ended 2023 on a high note, with two wins, a 10th place finish, and two tied-13th finishes in his last five tournaments, including The Open. However, 2024 has painted a different picture; in the five tournaments leading up to the Masters, Hovland’s highest finish was tied-19th.

Hovland’s disastrous 9-over round on Friday, which included a catastrophic meltdown on the 15th, will be etched in the minds of golf fans after he slipped from being just six shots behind leader Bryson DeChambeau, who is now tied at the top with Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa on 6-under. The Norwegian golfer’s day started horrendously with a triple bogey, double bogey, and two single bogeys within the first five holes as gusty conditions wreaked havoc at Augusta National.

Rory McIlroy, who also felt the brunt of the challenging conditions as he went from 1-under to finishing 4-over. Reflecting on the day’s play, McIlroy commented: “Tough day, really tough day. Just hard to make a score and just sort of trying to make as many pars as possible. “I felt like I did okay. I made that bogey on 14, and even just to par the last four holes and get in the clubhouse and have a tee time tomorrow, I’m sort of pretty happy with.

“Yeah, just a really tough day. Scoring was very difficult. Yeah, just one of those days that couldn’t – I mean, most of the field couldn’t really get anything going. It was just a matter of trying to hang in there as best you could.”