He may have been a target of LIV Golf, but at least for the foreseeable future, Viktor Hovland isn’t leaving the PGA Tour. The No. 7 player in the Official World Golf Ranking committed to June’s Travelers Championship to defend his title, tournament organizers announced Tuesday.
Hovland crashed out of the Masters earlier this month by shooting 81 in the second round to miss the cut. The Norwegian subsequently withdrew from the following week’s signature event, the RBC Heritage. But Hovland has said in the past he prefers to work through issues in his game by training rather than fixing them during competition. It was the same case when Hovland withdrew from the WM Phoenix Open in February after a tough run at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am the week before.
Hovland has also denied interest in joining LIV in the past, though players like Jon Rahm of Spain have been swayed to defect for the right price. Hovland, 26, won the FedEx Cup last summer by winning the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship in consecutive weeks. But he is off to a rough start in 2024, with only one top-20 finish in six starts, as he tries to fix his swing.
The Travelers will take place June 20-23, the week after the U.S. Open. It is a signature event for the second year running, featuring a prize pool of $20 million. “Viktor is one of the promising young players we gave a sponsor’s exemption to in 2019, and it hasn’t taken him long to show why he deserved that opportunity,” Travelers executive vice president Andy Bessette said in a statement. “He’s made an impression with his play — he’s won on the PGA TOUR each of the past four seasons — but he’s also one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you’ll ever meet. We’re excited to watch him compete and be part of our world-class player field this year.”
