Viktor Hovland and playing partner, Rory McIlroy, put on an exhibition of golf on Saturday at the 150th Open Championship, as both men pulled away from the pack on Moving Day at St Andrews.
Holding a four shot buffer from a congested leaderboard, both Hovland and McIlroy start four shots ahead going into the final day on the Old Course. However, despite the incredible golf, Brandel Chamblee, who isn’t afraid to speak his mind, thinks that Hovland needs to avoid a certain aspect of his game, with the Golf Channel Analyst stating that the Norwegian is “devastatingly bad at chipping.”
FACTS ABOUT VIKTOR HOVLAND
Speaking on Live From The Open, the 60-year-old explained: “The greens here are so big and the surrounds are cut so tight that you can go through this entire week and not have to chip. If he misses a green tomorrow where he is short-sided and he has to go over a bunker, then we’re leaning in because he is so devastatingly bad at chipping. He’s the worst chipper, by far, on the PGA Tour.
“You go back to 2004 and you can only find three players who have ever chipped worse at any part of their career than what Viktor Hovland is doing right now. He’s a sublime ball-striker, the question is will he have to chip tomorrow?”
Could Chamblee have a point? Well, a quick look at Hovland’s PGA Tour stats shows that he is definitely not a strong chipper, by PGA Tour standards, with 24-year-old ranked outside the top 200 for Strokes Gained: Around The Green. As well as Strokes Gained, he sits outside the top 150 for a number of other short game statistics.
Hovland carded a blemish free round on Saturday
(Image credit: Getty Images)
However, this is one of the game’s biggest stars, a player who, in his short time as a professional, has claimed three PGA Tour wins, as well as two DP World Tour victories. He has also been knocking on the door of a big result in a Major as, rather surprisingly, he hasn’t claimed a top 10 in any of his Major starts.
This week, Hovland has been phenomenal tee-to-green, with the Norwegian rarely missing a fairway or green. What’s…
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