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Viktor Hovland looked like one of the next great stars of the sport when the 2023 PGA Tour season concluded. He had won three tournaments, including the Tour Championship, and finished the year at No. 4 in the Official World Golf Rankings -- just behind Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm.

Hovland couldn't resist the allure of tinkering with his swing coming into 2024, but those changes had the opposite of their intended effect as the 27-year-old has tumbled to 19th in the world over the last year and change.

In that time, Hovland has flashed in the occasional tournament where it's looked like he's turning a corner -- most notably a third-place finish at last year's PGA Championship -- but consistency has been a real issue.

Coming into the 2025 Valspar Championship this week, he had missed three cuts across five events in 2025. On Friday, Hovland made a big move up the leaderboard at Innisbrook, shooting a 4-under 67 to move into a tie for second that presents his first real chance at winning a tournament this season. 

After the round, Hovland was candid about his recent struggles and explained what's prevented him from making confident, consistent swings. 

"It sucks," he said. "You have an ability that you can almost sometimes take for granted. You just wake up every day and you stand over the ball and you expect the ball to start in that direction and go that direction and end up somewhere close to the hole. And then it starts to not do that.

"It's pretty frustrating, and you start thinking things you've never thought before. And this game becomes infinitely more challenging, and it's already really challenging. So, it is really humbling -- and kind of handling those moments, there's a lot of lessons to be learned there. And now that, hopefully, I can regain my ability and see those shots again, hopefully I can be in a better spot where I can handle that situation better."

Hovland also discussed how he has handled these frustrations.

"I am hard on myself, yeah. But that's also why I'm good," he explained. "If I wasn't hard on myself, I probably wouldn't be out here. And yeah, I know that even with terrible mechanics I can still get out here and shoot a couple of nice scores, but that can also lead to 80 shots at The Players because I just don't have control over what I'm doing. [...] If I'm standing over the ball and I'm expecting it to start there [points left], everything in my golf swing is feeling like it's gonna start there, but it starts there [points right] and goes to the right, you can't play with that. I don't care who you are, you're just not going to be able to make that work."

Every amateur golfer has experienced this feeling, and there's something both comforting and terrifying about the fact that even a player who once reached No. 3 in the world can face the same challenges. If everything feels like the ball should be going one way, and instead, it's coming off the club face and starting somewhere else, it's impossible to make confident swings consistently -- especially, as Hovland noted, at more difficult courses.

As the weekend wears on at the Valspar, we'll find out whether Hovland is making progress on being more confident in his swing, particularly because the Copperhead course is not the most friendly on the PGA Tour.

For him to pull through with his first win in more than a year, he'll need to carry those positive feels from Friday for two more days. The challenge in a situation like Hovland's is the internal chicken vs. the egg battle of golf. You need confidence to make good swings but also need to make good swings and see good results to have that confidence.

That's why this weekend may be incredibly important for Hovland. If he can put together three straight good days and notch his first win in over a year, perhaps he can carry that confidence and belief forward to become a real threat in big tournaments again. On the flip side, if it goes off the rails on Saturday or Sunday, Hovland could end up back at square one with that Friday 67 just acting as a mirage in the desert.