Viktor Hovland (24) was the best of all during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and enters the weekend alone in the lead.
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A scorching putter led to Viktor Hovland really getting counted during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour. In total, there were seven birdies during the day, and he also saved himself masterfully on several occasions.
– I saw the lines very well, and I managed to start the putts on the line. Sometimes it’s like when you get in a pair (putter) early, it’s easy to keep going through the day, Hovland says to the PGA Tour.
The Norwegian finished the day with only 23 putts on 18 holes, and “earned” according to the PGA Tour statistics over five strokes on the field with the putter during the second round.
– I did not know that there were so few. I knew I put well, but I did not know it was 23, says Hovland.
With a round of 66 strokes, six strokes under par, he is a total of nine strokes under par after the first two rounds. The Norwegian’s round was two strokes better than the second best round during Friday.
Before the final two rounds, he is two strokes ahead of the trio of Tyrrell Hatton, Talor Gooch and Rory McIlroy. Billy Horschel is three strokes behind Hovland, while there are six strokes down to the players who share sixth place.
Hovland has played his way up to a fourth place in the world rankings after winning three of the last seven tournaments he has participated in, and the good form promises well before an intensive period for Hovland. Next week he will play The Players Championship, before playing the Valspar Championship and the World Golf Championships Match Play the next two weeks. After that, he will have a week off from the tournament, before this year’s first major tournament, The Masters (April 7-10).
–Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of the biggest tournaments on the PGA Tour in addition to the major tournaments, and is a tournament Viktor Hovland has played three times before.
The tournament was the first Hovland managed to cut in on the PGA Tour, something he did as an amateur in 2019.
However, the top results have not been for Hovland in the tournament. In 2019 it was a shared 40th place, in 2020 it was a shared 42nd place, while it was a shared 49th place in 2021.
Last year he was in a split third place after two rounds, but rounds of 77 strokes (five over par) and 78 strokes (six over par) in the last two rounds made it an anonymous placement in the end.
– I played well here after two days last year, but then I lost my head a bit after playing badly. It’s easy to make a couple of bogeys at the start of the round, and if you then try to force birdies out, you can get a slap in the face. I will try to be patient. I felt I mastered it today, says Hovland to Eurosport.
During the first round, Thursday, it went up and down a lot, but on the last four holes he went three strokes under par and secured a good start – thanks in part to this chip:
Hovland was in a split eleventh place after the first round, and in the second round he really gained momentum in the game. With seven birdies and only one bogey, it was a round of 66 strokes, six strokes under par. In the 14 rounds Hovland has played on the well-known Bay Hill course, it is by far his best round.
Arnold Palmer has won a total of 62 times on the PGA Tour and is one of the greatest legends in the sport of golf. Palmer died in 2016, aged 87 years. Ever since 1979, the Arnold Palmer Invitational has been hosted on the PGA Tour – a tournament Tiger Woods has won no less than eight times.
Previously, Hovland has only three times gone under 70 strokes (69 strokes in the opening round both last year and this year, and 68 strokes in the second round last year) on Bay Hill in competition.
World number one Jon Rahm made a name for himself with this putt during the first round of this year’s tournament:
PS! You can follow the PGA Tour on Discovery + and GolfTV.
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