(Reuters) – Viktor Hovland said on Wednesday he has moved on from the sting of a near-miss that would have given him a fourth title in his last eight starts and will not carry the disappointment into The Players Championship this week at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
The Norwegian world number three held the lead early on the back nine at Bay Hill on Sunday but carded three bogeys over his last six holes to finish in a share of second place behind Scottie Scheffler.
“It hurt last week, but I felt like I learned from my mistakes, and it’s just another good experience to be in a situation like that to have a chance to win a tournament. That’s always a bonus,” Hovland said at TPC Sawgrass.
“This week it’s The Players Championship, and can’t dwell on what happened last week for too long.”
The last of Hovland’s bogeys at Bay Hill came at the par-three 17th where his tee shot found a bunker. From an awkward downhill lie, Hovland got his ball to about 50 feet to set up a two-putt bogey.
A lot was made of Hovland’s bunker play at Bay Hill given he went 3-for-13 in sand saves, which left him 73rd out of the 77 players who made the cut.
“You can say what you want about the bunker play last week; if you end up plugged in the lip or on the downslope short-sided, it’s just impossible. I don’t care how good your bunker play is in some of those spots,” said Hovland.
“The stats can be a little deceiving in that way, but I feel like I’m making improvements in the technique and I’m not too worried about it.”
Although Hovland missed the cut last year on his debut at The Players Championship, he arrives at TPC Sawgrass this year in a much better frame of mind given recent victories at Mayakoba, the Hero World Challenge and Dubai Desert Classic.
“I’m not too worried about last year. I feel like I’m in a better spot,” said Hovland, will play the opening two rounds with world number one Jon Rahm and American Patrick Cantlay.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
