“I'm really proud of the way I won” - Viktor Hovland reflects on triumphs and growth in his year of achievements
Viktor Hovland is in Dubai, UAE, to play in the DP World Tour Championship as part of the European Tour's Top 50. It will be the culmination of the best season of the Norwegian's professional career so far, and he did not hide his satisfaction about it.
On Tuesday, November 14, Viktor Hovland gave a press conference at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, home of the final event of the DP World Tour season. The Norwegian reflected on how his 2022-2023 season went and, particularly, on the high amount of his winnings.
This is part of what Viktor Hovland had to say for the DP World Tour news service:
“I knew FedEx Cup was 18 million but I really didn't have an idea how much I made this year, and yeah, it's cool. It's nice to have. I don't mind it. But when I'm sitting here and especially after the Ryder Cup and I'm just looking over the year, it's the moments that we had in Rome, that was incredible."
He added:
"Then, just looking back to, hey, I won three times this year, big-time events. I'm really proud of the way I won those events. I don't feel like I would have been capable of winning those events earlier in the year. I feel like I've taken a big step to be able to win those events... But I would say the money is nice.
Viktor Hovland earned $33 million for his sporting performance this season. He was the second highest paid professional golfer of the year, second only to LIV Golf individual champion Talor Gooch.
How was the 2022-2023 season for Viktor Hovland?
Viktor Hovland had an outstanding 2022-2023 season, which led to him being considered one of the best players at the moment. He played 23 official PGA Tour tournaments, without suffering any cut.
The Norwegian had outstanding results in all the important tournaments of the season, including the Majors. He finished T18 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, T20 at The Genesis Invitational, T3 at The PLAYERS and T7 at The Masters.
He followed that up with a T2 at the PGA Championship, victory at The Memorial, 19th at the US Open and T13 at The Open Championship. His participation in the FedEx Cup playoffs could not have gone better, with T13 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and back-to-back wins at the BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship.
These results allowed him to win the highly coveted FedEx Cup, with its $18 million prize.
His overall performance at the PGA Tour was 18 Top 25s, including 13 Top 10s, one runner-up and three victories. He is ranked 1st in the FedEx Cup rankings and fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
In addition, Viktor Hovland also won the Hero World Challenge (unofficial) and the Ryder Cup.