Viktor Hovland is one of Europe’s top young talents, but according to his Strokes-Gained stats, one key part of his game is letting him down.
The Norwegian’s Strokes-Gained Around-the-green stats show that he is losing shots to his fellow pros around the putting surface, despite still being in the top-10 for total Strokes-Gained on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. This statistic includes Hovland’s pitching, chipping and bunker play, but not his putting.
The world No. 6 has been one of the form golfers over the last year, winning four times since the start of 2021. However, this stat might show that if the 24-year-old hopes to take his game to the next level, this is where he has the most to gain.
Viktor Hovland’s around-the-green skill really is an outlier when you focus in on the top players: pic.twitter.com/gFt1oJvXGZ
— data golf (@DataGolf) May 2, 2022
Hovland is ranked 355th out of the 410 players measured in the Strokes-Gained Around-the-green statistic, yet is still in the top-10 for overall Strokes-Gained. However, he makes up for that in his long game, where he ranks in the top-five in driving and approach play.
In last year’s Ryder Cup, Hovland was one of only two Europeans to play all five sessions, where he halved two matches.
