Viktor Hovland isn't joining LIV Golf in 2024 -- but that doesn't mean he's given a ringing endorsement to PGA Tour management.
The reigning FedEx Cup champion spoke with Eurosport's "Fore!" podcast in Norway, and he was not coy in his assessment of the executive team in Ponte Vedra Beach.
In translated quotes, Hovland said "I doubt that" when talking about a potential move to LIV Golf, which has been rumored in each of the last two PGA Tour off-seasons. Hovland has already committed to six PGA Tour events in 2024. For Hovland, the decision came down to simply not believing he can play his best golf on LIV.
"If I had gone to LIV, I don’t think I would have become a better golfer," said Hovland. "And then it is, in a way, the end of discussion. But I can’t blame people who make that decision and go over there. Then we have to try to find an arrangement in the end. We'll see."
The world No. 4 added, "You need the competition with 150 players and a cut. If you don’t play well enough, you’re out. There is something about it that makes your game a little sharper. If I had gone to LIV, I don’t think I would have become a better golfer."
Hovland perhaps is speaking directly of Jon Rahm, whose nine-figure agreement to join LIV Golf is seen as a chess move by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which owns the overwhelming stake of LIV Golf, to compel the PGA Tour toward a final agreement in the formation of a new for-profit subsidiary of the Tour, which would be known as PGA Tour Enterprises. The sides have until year's end -- barring an agreement to extend the negotiating period -- to reach such an agreement. The PGA Tour has also said it is deep in negotiations with another venture capital partner, Strategic Sports Group, which is made up of many owners of North American major sports franchises.
Hovland seems sympathetic to Rahm leaving, focusing his criticism at the PGA Tour's management.
"It would be a bit silly to criticize the players for leaving," Hovland said. "After all, you only hear one angle in the media, and there are quite a few different parts happening at the same time here. I totally understand why he left. That’s a lot, a lot of money. And at least when the management of the PGA Tour has done such a bad job.
"Just to be clear: I’m not complaining about the position I’m in, and I’m very grateful for everything. But the management has not done a good job. They almost see the players as labor, and not as part of the members. After all, we are the PGA Tour. Without the players, there is nothing.
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"When you get to see what happens behind closed doors, how the management actually makes decisions, which are not in the players' best interest, but best for themselves and what they think is best ... they are businessmen who say that, 'No, it should look like this and that.' There is a great deal of arrogance behind it all."
It is unclear if Hovland is speaking solely about the PGA Tour executive team or also being critical of the Policy Board, of which now player representatives make the majority after the August appointment of Tiger Woods to the board.