– Stress-free round – VG

– I get off to a good start. Quite a stress-free round. After eleven holes it flowed quite well. It’s a bit awkward to putt three times on the way in from there, but these are not the easiest greens to putt on. It’s a bit unfortunate that it came there and then, but I’m not good enough to complain about a round three under par, so I take it, says Hovland in an interview with Eurosport after the round.

Viktor Hovland was down on a shared 24th place before the third round of the tournament – one stroke below par after the first two rounds. On the first eleven holes of Saturday’s round, he really got it right.

The Norwegian played particularly brilliantly around the green and acquired several simple birdie opportunities and was after the first eleven holes five strokes below par.

Hovland had thus played himself into a provisionally divided lead – in anticipation of the leaders having started their round – but he had to see that there were treads on the next holes. On both holes 12 and 13 he putted wood from around 13 meters and thus bogey on both holes.

After missing two good birdie opportunities on the next two holes, today’s third bogey came on hole 16. Once again, Hovland puttted three, and this time from just over three meters.

The 23-year-old hit back with a birdie on hole 17 and with par on hole 18, it was a round three strokes under par for Hovland. With that, he is four strokes below par for the tournament. After everyone has finished Saturday’s round, Hovland is in a split seventh place, five strokes behind leader Keith Mitchell.

– Hopefully I have a small chance tomorrow, and then I just have to go out and play like I played on the first eleven holes. Have a little flow and hit good shots, and then see if it lasts all the way in, says Hovland.

Hovland finished in joint third place in last week’s Valspar Championship after finishing with the best round of all. With that, Hovland moved up to eleventh place in the world rankings and Hovland has a good opportunity to play in the top ten for the first time in his career with a good result in the Wells Fargo Championship, where ten of the world’s 20 best ranked golfers participate.

Kristoffer Ventura also participated in the tournament, but did not make the cut. Ventura will also be played next week’s AT & T Byron Nelson, while Hovland has tournament free to recharge for the PGA Championship – this year’s second major tournament – from 20-23. May.

PS! You can follow the PGA Tour on Eurosport Norway, GolfTV and Discovery +.

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