Palm Harbor, Fla. – Viktor Hovland is looking for his swing and finds himself in the competition at the Valspar Championship Friday, where Jacob Bridgeman takes a shot lead, while many others are behind the Innisbrook weekend.
Bridgeman was an incredibly cold day until the copperhead course returned to some point. His lead was a two-shot lead until the 4-foot on the 18th hole was missing a par putt. This gave him two shots under 69.
Bridgeman played 6 to two rounds with a low of 136.
Hovland (67), Byeong Hun A (67) and Ryo Hisatsune (66) were one shot, with a large group of people in a large group with 138 shots below 138, including Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele, whose consecutive unsatisfactory winning streak extended to 60 layoffs.
It’s surprising that Hovland, which in itself is a surprise, considering he won the FedEx Cup two years ago, despite some swing issues still last year ranked No. 8 in the world.
Hovland cares about how to “how” is more than “how much” in “golf”, and the Norwegian star is willing to find the answer regardless of his score. The latest search is the most frustrating, and it’s the coach’s revolving door.
He returned to White for the second time. He will be in the last group on Saturday. How far he went along the way was a mystery even to him.
“I still don’t know where the ball starts, bends and all of that stuff,” Hofland said. “But if you play it steady, it’s a good start, especially when the wind starts to blow here. … Still don’t feel so good, but at least it’s improved.”
He scored 80 points in the first round of the Player Championship, so that’s it.
This is the first time Hofland has cut 36 holes since the Scottish Open last July. Other games are signature events without layoffs or FedEx Cup playoffs. He sometimes performed well, such as the runner-up in the playoffs opening last year.
He wants to see good shots, and then good results. He will occasionally achieve good results and the search continues.
“You just wake up every day, you stand on the ball, you just want the ball to start in that direction, go to that direction, and finally get to the place near the hole,” Hofland said. “That’s when it starts not doing that; it’s frustrating. You start thinking about things you never thought about.”
There is an opportunity in front of him at Innisbrook, and there are many companies.
Lowry made a rumble start in the cold weather, with the last nine birdies in 67, only scoring seven pars and two bogeys.
“I played nine holes perfectly and didn’t really miss a lot of shots,” Laurie said. “I’m not that great in the other nine games. But I think a day like today, if you give it to me in the locker room this morning, I’ll take it.”
Schauffele has laid off numbers in the past two weeks, his first match in two months due to a rib injury. Since returning, he has also scored 81 and 77 shots, which made him realize that the reward is much harder than he thought.
In addition to layoffs, his hope for Innisbrook is to “connect” with the leader. He is, only two people have the chance to feel the pressure of the weekend for the first time in a few months.
“It’s one of the places that can be quickly away from you, or you can stay there and your name will get there later that day,” Schauffele said. “So I just want to play golf.”
There is a lot of drama on the tailoring line, and it fell in 144. There are few Adam Scott, two of whom are in his last three holes to make it digitally successful.
Again, if it weren’t for Neal Shipley, Scott and 12 other players would have missed the layoffs. He needs to par on the 18th hole of the last group to keep the cut above 1. Shipley found a bunker from the tee and missed a 15-foot PAR.
The difference between the last place and Bridgeman is only eight guns.
