{"id":530328,"date":"2026-03-18T06:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530328\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:53:09","slug":"i-dont-seek-out-dumb-people-viktor-hovland-on-why-change-is-constant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530328\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I don’t seek out dumb people’: Viktor Hovland on why change is constant"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can\u2019t write a Viktor Hovland story without the central theme being his ceaseless pursuit of \u2018it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Whatever \u2018it\u2019 is \u2013 and if \u2018it\u2019 exists \u2013 that would satisfy his swing\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n

A year ago, Hovland won the Valspar Championship and immediately told press, \u201cI hit a lot of disgusting shots, but they just happened to go where I was looking.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been seen on the driving range with \u201cTin Cup\u201d-style gadgets \u2013 pool floaties at this year\u2019s Genesis<\/a>. He\u2019s been with this coach and that coach and back to this coach and back to that coach. He teamed (again) with Grant Waite shortly before his \u201925 Valspar win and then split (again) before this year\u2019s Arnold Palmer Invitational. Hovland is now working with T.J. Yeaton, with whom he teamed briefly last year.<\/p>\n

It might seem whimsical to the public, but Hovland doesn\u2019t take change lightly. Asked Tuesday at Innisbrook Resort, where he is vying for his first Tour title in a year, \u201cthe theory behind changing,\u201d Hovland offered a little weight.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Valspar<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Florida swing ends at Innisbrook where the much-daunted Copperhead Course awaits a field that includes returning champ Viktor Hovland and betting favorite Xander Schauffele.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like I have a theory behind it, but the game of golf is constantly evolving and there\u2019s new challenges that arise all the time. I feel like I\u2019m obviously a very curious person and there\u2019s a lot of smart people out there. If I feel like there\u2019s something missing or \u2013 and I obviously haven\u2019t been very happy with the state of my game the last few years \u2013 I\u2019m constantly searching to try to hear other perspectives that might resonate with me a little bit more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not to say that \u2013 like I feel like every single person that I work with I\u2019ve gotten good information, and I don\u2019t seek out dumb people, I find the smartest people that I deem are out there, and I really listen to \u2018em and I\u2019ve learned from a lot of \u2018em. But I obviously got to filter that information and make that applicable to myself. And there\u2019s some information, some bits and pieces kind of resonate with me more than others, and then I kind of, that\u2019s how I go about it and try to filter out the information the best that I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hovland\u2019s complexity is evident in his results. He hasn\u2019t missed a cut since prior to that Valspar victory (he withdrew after a third-round 63 at the Travelers because of a neck injury). But he hasn\u2019t won. He has three top-15 finishes this season. But he hasn\u2019t contended.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s constantly smiling. But \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just actually a deeply unhappy guy,\u201d he said with a smirk when asked why he always seemed happy, but Cam Young lacked outward emotion when winning last week\u2019s Players Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I think we show things differently. Cam obviously showed himself pretty stoically after winning the biggest tournament of his career. So, yeah, I think, yeah, we\u2019re all individuals and show it differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do consider myself like a very serious person, and I take things seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the complexity of a man forever in search, of what only he really knows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You can\u2019t write a Viktor Hovland story without the central theme being his ceaseless pursuit of \u2018it.\u2019 Whatever…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-530328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}