The PGA TOUR’s ‘Florida Swing’ came to its final stop this past week at Innisbrook Golf Resort’s Copperhead Course for the Valspar Championship.

With the recent reconfiguration of the PGA TOUR schedule this event has been put in an awkward spot in a jam-packed schedule. Slotted after back-to-back signature events at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players, and ahead of the pre-Masters tune-ups in Texas for the top stars, it also has to compete with the opening weekend of the NCAA Basketball Tournament for viewership. Yet, despite this awkward placement, this event still has managed to draw big names in search of form.

This week the Norwegian Viktor Hovland won his seventh professional event, and first since the 2023 Tour Championship, despite a rocky 2024 season and a recent run that had him missing three consecutive cuts at The Genesis, Arnold Palmer, and The Players.

It was not looking like Sunday would be his day when walking to the 13^th tee he trailed Justin Thomas by 3 shots, who was a couple holes ahead of Hovland. With the daunting “Snake Pit” finishing stretch of 16, 17, and 18 still ahead of him, Viktor would go on to make his charge with birdies at 14, 16, and 17. He was also aided by a critical bogeys from Thomas on the par 4 16^th and 18^th holes after Justin drove it into trouble on both holes. Hovland would go on to bogey 18 but it was enough to secure the one shot victory over Justin Thomas at -11 (273) for the week.

Dealing with illness this week I was not able to watch as much of the golf as I had hoped outside of Sunday’s final round but watching Justin and Viktor down the stretch on Sunday and listening to their post round comments, it was apparent this week meant so much more than the leaderboard could show.

In 2022 and 2023 it seemed like Viktor Hovland was on top of the golf world. He won the 2022 Hero World Challenge, finishing T-7 at The Masters, T-2 at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, before his breakthrough PGA Tour win at the 2023 Memorial. He closed out the year with back-to-back wins at the BMW Championship, and Tour Championship en-route to winning the FedEx Cup. And to top it off he was a key member of Europe’s Ryder Cup blowout victory over the United States, picking up 3.5 points for the European team. He was only 25 years old and suddenly found himself at number 3 in the world golf rankings, and a golf swing that was the envy of golfers worldwide. I personally have spent hours breaking down his swing to use as a model for my own, and I will be featuring more on his swing mechanics in upcoming posts.

Fast forward to this past Monday he was arriving at Innisbrook Golf Resort the 19^th ranked golfer in the world, eighteen months removed from his last victory, and five changes in swing coaches. Coming off three consecutive missed cuts it would have been easy for him to not show up or to struggle to another missed cut, but he came out and won. In his press conferences all week he was lamenting his swing and his ball striking, even saying of his swing “it’s still not great” in his post-victory press conference on Sunday afternoon.

Justin Thomas is another player who has seemingly fallen on hard times the last few years with his last victory coming at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in May 2022. His recent form also suggests he may be getting close to breaking through once again, but in golf there are no such guarantees.

Golf, especially in the competitive arena, is a game that can give us the highest highs and the lowest lows it feels like life can possibly hand us. When our swing is in the right spot it feels like we will never miss hit another shot again. It becomes like second nature to be able to slip into the zone, let go of all the outside noise, and precisely pick apart the golf course shot by shot. When we are going through a swing change, or just struggling, it feels like we may never play this game well again. The once crystal-clear visualization of a desired ball flight suddenly becomes muddled. The reliable “never go right/left” swings suddenly start going that undesirable direction. Every swing feels like it could be enough to induce a fit of anxiety. I believe there is no lonelier feeling in sports.

No matter how good a swing change may feel on the range or playing at home, there is no substitute for testing it under tournament pressure when the spotlight is the brightest. And for guys on Tour, it takes a tremendous amount of courage to work through their swing changes or struggles for the whole world to see. Public perception and pressure can swing as wildly as a player’s form. One good result and the world declares you are “back”. One bad result, and you are “lost” or “searching”. A few bad results in a row? You may as well retire. It is so easy to get lost in all the noise and start questioning not just the direction of your game, but also your purpose.

Yet Viktor’s victory this week proved an old adage: on our scorecards we just have to write a number, not draw a picture. The perfectionist in us will absolutely hate it. It will feel wrong. We will feel like we are getting away with something horrible. We all crave and expect the perfect swing with the same repeatable ball flight on every shot. But that isn’t golf. It’s a game of managing ourselves, our swings, and our mistakes. If you get the ball in the hole in fewer strokes than everyone else, you win. The picture in our minds may seem most important, but at the end of the day nothing matters more than the number on the card.