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ROCHESTER, NY – It was hard to miss Victor Hovland as he took his first steps on the walking bridge that separates the range from the green in Oak Hill. Yes, because Hovland had just jumped a share of the 36-hole championship lead, but also because of what he was wearing to do so.
Hovland has long been accustomed to getting his outfits to catch the golf world’s attention — or more often, the ire. It is oversized Pulitzer Masters nightshirtfor the strikingly deep-V and more recently of Cosplay Phoenix Suns.
On Friday at the PGA Championship, Hovland looked like a golfer from a bygone era. Both with four birdies, and one bogey taking him to five under, good for a share of the lead; and the orange-and-white ensemble that looked like it was taken straight from leftovers from Rickie Fowler’s 2011 catalog.
“I mean, I’m obviously going to Oklahoma State, I love Clockwork Orange,” Hovland said afterward with a smirk. “I think the orange here on the side might have been it a little a lot. I’d just go for a white shirt. Other than that, I think it’s pretty sweet. The belt is very cool. Yes, that’s whatever. “
The clothes have become an odd talking point for Hovland, who seems at once eager to deflect responsibility for the firestorm surrounding them on social media and totally unfazed. J. Lindeberg,” Hovland said Thursday of his clothing sponsor, “They give me this stuff and they pay me to do it, so I just show up and wear whatever they want me to wear.” And those outfits are now major tradition.
In some ways, this is due more to Hovland’s play than his appearance. He quietly entered the weekend at the PGA Championship with back-to-back Top 10 finishers, both with first-round starts. At the Masters, he found himself in the final on Saturday afternoon. At the Open Championship in St Andrews last summer, Hovland was the player many feared would steal the crown from Rory McIlroy (before Cam Smith finally did).
Wins came slowly on the PGA Tour. He has three of them, but all of them are in the few Tour events that have taken place outside the United States. However, his top 10 finishes (and 10 top three finishes) indicate he was closer than his resume indicates.
This PGA Championship was a showcase for Hovland’s talents, one that was self-evident since he was a National Championship-winning player at Oklahoma State. He leads the field in nearly every important statistic category for a ball striker’s golf course like Oak Hill—first in hits earned: tee to green, hits earned: approach and nearness to the hole. Mentally he’s sharper now, too, he says, the beneficiary of several near misses.
“I think it was because I was a little young and a little stupid,” he said. “Just going after some pins that I’m not supposed to use even though I feel good about hitting the ball, and it’s easy to feel like, birdie here. And then you hit a file
A decent shot, and then you’re short on the side and you make a bogey or a double, and you can’t do that in major championship golf.”
Instead, he found a different strategy – one that feels very familiar to many of the great heroes who came before him.
“You just have to wear it out amidst the green,” Hofland says. “If that bat gets hot, you can make some birdies.”
But it’s also possible that there was another feature built into the make-up of the Hovland Grand Prix. Forgive us if this sounds too blunt, but it might have something to do with his clothes.
No, not quite Phil Mickelson and the performative powers of Black, but there is something revealing about Hovland’s particular approach to attention to his eye-catching costumes – something that might come in handy as he heads into Oak Hill weekend in search of his first major title.
While crossing a walking bridge early Friday evening, Hovland responded to a reporter’s comment about mixed reactions to his outfit.
“I don’t give a like, anyway.”