Europe shines in training, brutal hole in one

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023 19:00

golf

The Ryder Cup warms up before the start this Friday. The players carry out the last day of training this Thursday before a competition in which the morning foursomes that will open the tournament have already been defined.

Ryder Cup, results

Jon Rahm will be in charge, along with Tyrrell Hatton, of kicking off the Ryder in a high-flying match against Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns.

It will be later when one of the men who has shone the most in training, Viktor Hovland, takes over on the European side. The Norwegian will share a match with Ludvig Aberg to face Max Homa and Brian Harman. Hovland has captured everyone's attention this Wednesday because he has shown himself at a high level in training for the players on the different holes.

The Norwegian has left one of the shots of the year on the 5th hole of the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia Montecello. Rarely do you see a hole in one on a par four in golf, something of tremendous difficulty in itself and even more rare on long holes.

Hole 5, within those characteristics, is 376 yards long and is in that par four category. From that distance, Hovland was in charge of scoring from the tee and adding a hole in one, a situation that made the Rome public go crazy even before the start of the Ryder.

With a perfect hit, easily avoiding the lake and the bunkers that are on the fairway of this hole, the ball reached the green without problems to roll a few meters and fall directly into the hole. Hovland and the European team have exploded with joy and have thus gained strength to try to shine in competition as well.

Viktor Hovland (born 18 September 1997) is a Norwegian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour (and on the European Tour as an affiliate member). Hovland is ranked as of 31 January 2022 as the world's third best golfer and is thus the highest ranked golfer in the Nordics in addition to being number two in Europe.

In April 2019, he was ranked as the world's best amateur golfer. He became the first Norwegian to win a tournament on the PGA Tour when he won the Puerto Rico Open in 2020, and on the European Tour when he won the BMW International Open in 2021.

He has a total of five victories on the PGA Tour (plus two unofficial ones) and two on the European Tour. He lives in the small American town of Stillwater.