Viktor Hovland has been a professional less than four years and already has four aces on the PGA Tour.
The latest came Friday afternoon at Bay Hill, when the former Oklahoma State star stepped on the seventh tee and took dead aim on a windy Florida day.
Viktor Hovland makes a HOLE-IN-ONE on 7 at the @apinv! 🔥
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) March 3, 2023
📺: Golf Channel and @peacock pic.twitter.com/MfU8rM5jwA
The hole-in-one moved Hovland to 3 under for the week as he looks to better last year’s runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Full-field scores from the Arnold Palmer Invitational
“It was a 7-iron. I saw Will [Zalatoris] hit the shot before me and I was very surprised and he was very surprised too how much the wind took it over to the right. So that made me play my shot a bit more conservatively, because I was a little indecisive,” Hovland said. “I thought the wind was, if anything, maybe slightly going to help the fade shot. But it was obvious with Will that it wasn’t. So that kind of freed me up and I could kind of commit to a full 7-iron, just hit it way left and let the wind take it.”
It was the second eagle of the week for Hovland, and the putter wasn’t needed for either. The Norwegian started on No. 10 yesterday and spun a wedge into the hole on his second swing of the day.
That's one way to start your day! 🦅
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 2, 2023
Viktor Hovland with a hole-out eagle to open his round. pic.twitter.com/OWIXKZmy01
Hovland is still well off the lead of Kurt Kitayama, but that’s nothing a couple more hole-outs can’t fix.